


Race for the Ur-Dra

by ThePaperSnag



Category: Elder Scrolls
Genre: Bullying, Dubious Consent, F/F, F/M, Fights, Harassment, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, Loneliness, M/M, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-19 21:52:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16542962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePaperSnag/pseuds/ThePaperSnag
Summary: In the early Dawn Age, Nocturnal mostly kept everything and anything to herself. But during an argument with Azura, a precious secret of hers is revealed to which sparked a huge race for the claimant of that secret. Her virginity. But in deepest of shadows lies a shade with an intent to win not only the race but something much more valuable.





	1. The Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~! Just wanted to thank you for coming to read this story! I'm still an amateur writer so if there are any grammar mistakes you see, feel free to point them out to me! I tried my best to keep the characters as close to the lore as possible but some of them had to be bent a little to fit the story. I like to point out also that this Nocturnal is a way off from the lore at the beginning, but that's the point of this story to show how she got to that point. Anyway, hope you enjoy~!

   Evergloom shadowy beauty was always overshadowed by its sister realm, Moonshadow. The same principle applies with the Daedric Princes or rulers of these realms. Azura, the Daedric Prince of Dawn and Dusk, always thought highly of herself as if she shone brighter than the sun. Azura believed, and was very proud of, that her powerful influence and her brilliant glory was better than anyone else. Especially over the one she called Nocturnal, the Daedric Prince of Shadows and Darkness. Though Nocturnal tends to hide herself away and never expresses any concerns or happiness, her sister is the exact opposite. Azura always expressed her opinion and direct feelings on everything said around her, whether for good or bad. She’d highly praise those who agreed with her, saying they’re part of her beloved; as for those who didn’t or were against her, were the scum of Oblivion to her. What she thought and what principles she believed in were the only things that mattered in any discussion with the Prince of Dawn and Dusk. She never wanted nor attempted to see the other side as simple as it wasn’t what she wanted. Especially, if it trashed on how she looked, stature-wise or physically.

  
  
   Azura thought herself to be so beautiful and mighty that she cast a large shadow on her own sister, showing no remorse whatsoever. It is believed that Nocturnal and Azura are thought to be rivals as Azura tends to bicker with her older sister, more or less because of Azura becoming petty over things Nocturnal does or covers up. Whether it be for small things like the crows leaving droppings on her shrines, or big things like thieves robbing her priests and temples of goods. Oh, how Azura hated being degraded and she always found a way to blame it on her sister. Or at least, this is all what Nocturnal always thought and sternly believed. Nocturnal never saw a different side of her sister as this is all she ever showed to her. It slightly saddened her that they had such a poor relationship, but such is what happens when a socially selfish being meets a reclusive quiet one. Nocturnal didn’t exactly hate her sister, but she did get on her nerves and today was no exception.

 

   As Nocturnal stomped through a portal home from a meeting of the princes, she felt anger boiling up in her chest as she clenched her teeth. This meeting was a disaster to Nocturnal as she squeezed her eyes shut, clenching her fists. She stopped and stood there, trying to keep herself from exploding as she took some deep breaths before opening her eyes again. As she breathed, she looked around her prized beauty of a realm Evergloom. She looked up at the sky as it was the most appealing thing this realm offered compared to the rest of its delightful beauties. It was light a black backdrop painted in splatters of pink, violet and blue sprinkled with glittering stars as meters would shoot through the sky with magnificent white fire streaming behind them. The sight was satisfyingly soothing to Nocturnal like a cool drink to a thirsty crow.

 

   Nocturnal took her gaze off the skies and to the rest of her world around her. The purple and blacks hue of her realm always made everything shadowy, just how Nocturnal likes it. The so-called grass beneath her and all over the hillside she was at was a light purple as a treeline of black-barked trees with wicked branches was to the right of her. Ghostly shades and shadows of animals could be seen roaming the grand forest of those woods. To her left was a murky lake with wisps dancing on the surface’s silver water. She knew where she was and looking at the middle of the lake confirmed it as the reflection of her own grand castle was seen lurking behind the reflection of hillside that was in front of her. The scenery and her deep breaths started to help her anger boil down a bit before she suddenly caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the lake. Her face is what first caught her eyes. It was very pale with black, sunken eyes with purple iris and long eyelashes. Her blue lips slightly parted as Nocturnal looked away from her ‘pretty’ face and down at her body. She saw her decorative jet-black overcoat with fur trimmed ends along the bottom, sleeves and hood over the lighter black dress she had on. She slowly pulled down her hood onto the fur shawl on her shoulders held together by a fancy silver crow pin. The silver buttons all fastened down the coat hugged her pudgier features. Nocturnal felt her fists clench up and the anger boil back as she looks down at her actual body.

 

   She started hissing angrily to herself, “Grrr, stupid sister…! Why did she have to go and blabber her mouth off about me…! My looks…! My sphere…! Gah! Doesn’t she know that her words hurt?! Especially towards me…!”

 

   Nocturnal sighed, irritated about what transpired moments ago during that meeting. As she sat down by the pool of water and looked into its calm waters to soothe herself, she recalled on the events. To see if showing it again to herself would give her new incite onto why.

 

   The meeting this time around was in Hermaeus Mora’s Apocrypha and on the bigger outcrops of metal that popped out of the great ocean of acid and tentacles. Everyone was just arriving and chatting with each other or just standing there by themselves. Nocturnal was the last to arrive but a disheartening feeling came over her when she saw that familiar prince with a glowing of a sun and moon by in front of two other princes as parts of their heads were poking out. Her sister was always so short compared to the others so this came as no surprise. Nocturnal though couldn’t make out the others in this new gang Azura had. As Nocturnal passed by, she watched the group from behind with a quiet and slow pace with a little curious hope to see who the other two where. The tall, slender figure of an ashened colored lady dressed in a gown of the starry night sky with a garnished rosy pink crown of flowers on her jet black hair was none other than Azura of the three. No one else shows up to meetings that exaggerate besides the one she called sister.

 

   Though Vaermina in her silver and purple armored robe adorned with golden buttons and chains connecting said buttons was a close runner-up as she came into view, seemingly a bit taller than Azura. Nocturnal kept her gaze from the side, a little bit shocked to see her, as she kept her head facing forward and her hood up to cast a shadow over her face. Seems though Nocturnal wasn’t the only one who wanted to cover herself as Vaermina seemed to be the same as well, barely showing any of herself, only showing tiny glimpses of her light purple skin and silver hair. Like Nocturnal as well, her face was covered but instead of shadow, Vaermina had a mask that was very ridged and bat-like that covered her face fully. Something about it was strange and mysterious but also very unsettling. Like there was no eye holes or any that she could see but Nocturnal could feel the presence of those eyes underneath it. Nocturnal shook her head, trying to not focus on Vaermina’s mask so much even though it was quite a masterpiece. She had to admit though that she was still a bit surprised to see that prince of nightmares with Azura as her sister seems to hate nightmares. Her sister didn’t like to be shown her fears or flaws as it would ruin her own flawless image of herself. Nocturnal hmphed a bit before noticing the other prince that came into view. It was Namira.

 

   Namira was a strange addition to this group as her sphere and looks would definitely not fit Azura’s high standards. Her tattered, sloppy stitched together robe seemed to have many layers of different materials and shades of brown were almost beggar-like compared to nobility look the others where. The only ‘decorative’ ornament she had was that she had a belt around her waist with a copper belt buckle with her own symbol. Namira’s two small, curved black horns on her forehead were the only ‘alive’ thing on her. It’s strange as her almost rotting skin, skeletal features and greying hair with the dead look in her eyes would make you believe Azura would repulse her immediately. Or maybe she does and Namira just likes that, causing Azura to feed off that in amusement. Namira was peculiarly puzzling to Nocturnal.

 

   Azura though was babbling on to her ‘friends’ about something but the moment Nocturnal arrived her attitude changed from boasting about herself to gossiping whispers to her two listeners. As she whispered to them, Namira and those two started giggling but Vaermina kept quiet with a harsh gaze on Nocturnal underneath her mask. All three of there eyes on Nocturnal made her skin crawl with a tingling pain. She could almost feel their judgmental comments and thoughts about her.

 

   “I told you~! Look at her sides…!” Azura whispered to Namira quite loudly as if she wanted Nocturnal to hear what she said.

 

   Nocturnal bite her bottom lip slightly from hearing her sister and pulled her hood over her face more before to hide her face. She adjusted her robe before intertwining her fingers so the sleeves would connect and hide her hands. She didn’t like others staring and whispering about her, especially a group of them as it made her feel extremely uncomfortable in her own skin but her sister Azura new that as well. Probably why she was doing it, Nocturnal thought. Shrugging it off and moving away from their prying eyes, she positioned herself to where they couldn’t see her but she could see them and the other princes as well. Mostly all of them as her position made the details of the others fuzzy but she could still tell who was who. Most of the princes were conversing with each other like Sanguine and Mephala, though those two always talk to each other during meetings. Nocturnal could tell it was them as both had lighter blackish skin, Mephala’s six arms plus her longer webbed dress and Sanguine’s green tunic also his two sets of horns was unmistakable.

 

   She looked to the side to Boethiah was sharpening her blade while chatting to Hircine who was just slowly feeling the blade of his spear as if it were just sharpened. It was simple to identify Hircine due to his deer skull head with those large antlers, tan skin and that furred pelt around his waist. Boethiah was a bit harder to recognize as she almost looks like a dremora but her black spiked armor and white hair up in a bun are notable traits. Boethiah also seemed to eyeing someone across the room and as Nocturnal’s eye followed who it was, she realized that it was to the one prince that was the nearest to her. The one prince that she didn’t want near her at any given point, Molag Bal. He was easy to spot from his distinct lighter blue skin, skeletal features with those spikes lining down his backbone and that long tail that flowed out of his dark grey loincloth. Molag Bal was chatting to Mehrunes Dagon, his red skin with those four arms and that long shredded loincloth are unique only to him Nocturnal thought, but maybe Molag Bal was also glaring back at Boethiah. Nocturnal couldn’t tell as both had their backs facing her.

 

   Nocturnal breathed a bit of a sigh of relief as he seemed to not of noticed her and she continued to look around. One was always a no-show this time, understandably, as Nocturnal couldn’t see this one’s beautiful bright light and that was Meridia but Nocturnal just assumed she was still getting over her demotion from the Magna Ge. Some of them, however, enjoyed to hang out on the outskirts of the others, like Jyggalag in his big shiny armor, but Nocturnal noticed two princes a bit away from the rest and seemingly whispering to each other. Peryite was kneeling down next to the little child prince, Clavicus Vile, who was sitting on a stack of books. The green dragon-like being in a tattered robe and small impish boy could only be them. But it was odd as Peryite hasn’t been to a meeting in ages after the accident and Clavicus Vile rarely talks to the others unless he’s dealing. They where seemingly staring at the others or someone in particular as Vile gave this devious smirk and Peryite’s expression darkened. Nocturnal’s eye twitched a bit as she looked more closely at them, but suddenly someone’s black hair blocked her view of them. It turned side to side as if looking for someone before turning around and showing that it was Azura. She was looking around, presumingly for Nocturnal, as her gang followed close behind.  

 

   “This is just great… Damn sister…! She knows I hate others watching me and yet she makes sure everyone in her damn group does…!” Nocturnal hissed to herself as she watched the other princes talk and make deals during this meeting from afar.

 

   As she settled in her new spot, watching the others, she felt someone or something put a hand on her shoulder. It felt like it had long bony fingers as Nocturnal felt sharp claws dig into her shoulder. Something darker loamed over her and whisper something illegible followed by a high pitched giggle from behind her. She couldn’t understand what it said but she could tell it was sinister. When she slowly turned her head slightly behind her to look, it was gone and all she saw was her own shadow cast against the stacks of books standing there. Confused, she looked down at her shoulder and saw claw marks there. Her eyes twitched at the sight but from the corner she could see, and feel, another certain shadow approach her. She turned her head back in front of her and felt a blush streak across her face when she saw that familiar large, thick robe.

 

   It was Hermaeus Mora.

 

   Though his long hood shadowed most of his face, Nocturnal could see in his expression he was slightly worried as he asked, “Are… you alright Nocturnal? You look slightly worried about something…”

 

   Nocturnal smiled a tiny bit before saying, “I’m fine, Herma Mora… I think you’re the one worrying here! I’m just… staring at your books! Yeah, that’s what I’m doing… nothing to worry your wiggly head about!”

 

   Nocturnal wasn’t always the best at reassuring as Hermaeus Mora just raised an eyebrow at her, believing none of what she just said and put his hands on his hips saying, “Nocturnal… you expect me to believe that? I know all, Nocturnal… All. So faking a smile and trying to lie to me won’t work!”

 

   “If that’s the case then you would’ve already KNOW what is wrong with me… So, indulge me, what is wrong with me Herma Mora~?” Nocturnal teased the Prince of all-knowing.

 

   Hermaeus Mora frowned before saying, “You worry about how others perceive you, especially your sister. But, I find your worry odd. Is it not in your nature to be misunderstood?"

 

   Nocturnal huffed and looked away from Hermaeus Mora, knowing he was partially right but also wrong. It was true that she did worry and hate that her sister was a snob that’d always mock her. That it was also true that her sphere was of the unknown or things covered by darkness so when something about her is exposed, it hurts Nocturnal. A curse to the Prince of shadows and luck. Nocturnal couldn’t help but think that Hermaeus Mora wasn’t seeing the bigger picture here. She wanted someone to understand her and not have to feel the pain of it. There was also something else that bothered her but she didn’t want to think of it.

 

   She mumbled, “Maybe it is…”

 

   Hermaeus Mora looked at her, raising his head a little and saying with a slightly crooked smirk, “I told you I know everything…!”

 

   Nocturnal rolled her eyes and chuckled teasingly, “If that were completely true… I would’ve ceased to exist. You don’t know everything I hide in my shadows, Mora~! ”

 

   Hermaeus Mora did a playful pout before chuckling a bit. “That I can not deny, seeing as you’re still here. But I do personally hold myself back when it comes to the insatiable desire to seek out all that tantalizing knowledge you keep hidden in your mischievously blinding shadow…”

 

   “Ummm… Mora, you are kinda, uhh…” Nocturnal whispered, pointing to her own lips.

 

   “Huh..? Oh!” Hermaeus Mora quickly wiped away the drool from his mouth and chuckled nervously, “I’m sorry, let me correct myself… I can PARTIALLY hold myself back, heh...”

 

   Nocturnal chuckled softly as she stared at him with a smile, looking past the shadow Hermaeus Mora cast on his own face. Nocturnal always found his face to be extremely adorable and thought it was weird that Hermaeus Mora wanted to hide it from everyone. His lovable chubby cheeks and rounder eyes coupled with his smaller stature made him seem like one of those little mortals minus the two tentacles protruding from the corners of his forehead. Hermaeus Mora quickly pulled his hood more over his head, seemingly knowing that Nocturnal was staring at his face from under her own shadow. Nocturnal turned her face away with a little giggle as she thought the prince of knowledge would’ve known all this time that she could see his face under a simple shadow.

 

   “A-Anyway…!” Hermaeus said with a nervous cough before putting a hand on Nocturnal’s shoulder, continuing, “I don’t you should worry about what your sister says or does. She is what she is and will always be like that, nothing we say or do can change that fact. Besides! What she gossips or think can never fully be true as she can not fully understand… you…! That didn’t help, did it?”

 

   Nocturnal was frowning as he chuckled nervously and spoke again, “W-well I wasn’t lying but seems this time around I shouldn’t have said the truth… ahaha… I’m not really good at social interactions, am I?”

 

   Nocturnal shook her head but sighed out, “No, you are not but I’m the same way with others so… I can’t be mad at you! Especially when you have such an adorable baby face~!”

 

   Hermaeus Mora froze as Nocturnal reached a hand up and poked his cheek, squishing it against his face. She smiled slightly under her hood and was slightly amused at Hermaeus Mora’s frozen, shocked look. She couldn’t help but think that the prince of knowledge was hiding his face because he was embarrassed. Kinda like how Nocturnal is with her body. The more she thought, the more similarities her and Hermaeus Mora have. They are both reclusive and socially awkward with others plus their spheres are just two sides of the same coin. Opposites always attract and that was no different here. Her heart started to pitter patter a bit as she started to pinch his cheek a bit before noticing something. The prince before her had an expression that went from shock to subtle fear.

 

   “Y-you knew this entire time…? You could always see… my face… My I used so much magic just to… hide it… How...” He whispered to her, asking in such a shaky tone.

 

   “Why of course, all-knowing one… what did expect?” She teased as stopped to chuckle a bit and pull her hand away before continuing, “You hid your face underneath the shadow of your hood, so of course the prince of shadows is going to see it! You know, I to hide my face underneath a hood of shadows, just one of the many things we have in common eh-Hey… why such a frightened look?”

 

   Hermaeus Mora backed up a bit before clutching the end of his hood and says, “I-It’s nothing Ur-Dra. I just thought...I thought my magic would’ve hidden it from everyone else, even from you. I underestimated you and your strengths… Just how powerful are your shadows? Does the secrets it hide really give it that much power...?”

 

   Nocturnal was silent. This conversation took a darker turn then what she was expecting or wanting. She didn’t know how to respond to Hermaeus Mora. What he was asking and what answer he sought was something very difficult for a mind to even comprehend. Even a daedric prince’s mind. Nocturnal could only think of one thing to say without telling the full truth, and without leaving him unsatisfied.  

 

   She took a deep breath and in a haunting tone, more serious than what she wanted, she said, “Some things are best left to the shadows than in the light, Mora. Best to keep it that way.”

 

   “So that means the secrets you are hiding in those shadows… there is some powerful force in them…right?” Hermaeus Mora muttered to himself.

 

   Nocturnal parted her lips slightly when she realized that the prince before her was getting frightened. Perhaps what she said wasn’t the best thing to say after all. This wasn’t her intent at all today and especially towards Hermaeus Mora. She slowly started to lift her hand toward him, trying to figure out how to calm him down but he just backed up.

 

   “Hermaeus Mora… I-”

 

   “I s-see...I-I’ll be right back! I just… have to do something!” Hermaeus Mora mumbled as he backed away more from Nocturnal’s rising hand and turned around.

 

   The prince ran off, pulling his hood over his face as Nocturnal reached her arm out towards him, saying, “Wait…! I didn’t mean to… scare you…”

 

   Nocturnal felt a bit of pain in her chest well up as she watched Hermaeus Mora runoff. She couldn’t tell if it was the pain of him learning a bit about her shadowy secrets, or that she scared him away. She lowered her hand and went to look down but noticed that someone was watching their encounter from a distance. In that glittering, shining armor was no one else but Jyggalag. He was peeking over his shoulder at them, trying to look inconspicuous as he was seemingly watching Hermaeus Mora. His head slowly seemed to follow the running prince before turning back to notice Nocturnal spotted him. In a bit of a sudden panic, he trotted off from his spot and towards where Hermaeus Mora ran off too. Nocturnal couldn’t help but wonder what was truly going on with those two.

 

   A loud, feminine voice rang up from the side of Nocturnal, making her jump as it said, “Well Well~! Look who it is~!”

 

   Nocturnal knew that voice all too well as she sighed and said unamused, “Hello Azura…”

 

   Azura was smirking as she confidently gaited over to Nocturnal who was cornered by the stacks of books she chose to hide by. She stopped in front of her sister, Namira came from behind her and standing a bit back from where Azura was. Nocturnal looked at the two who were sizing her up but also noticed that Vaermina was steadily hanging further behind them. Just watching underneath that eerie mask and making no movements as if studying what is happening. Nocturnal looked back at Azura who got even closer, making Nocturnal back up into the stack of books, knocking them over. The other princes looked up from their conversations and over at them, causing that searing pain to form in Nocturnal’s chest again. This didn’t look good for the prince of shadows.

 

   “It seems you scared off the meeting’s host…! Pfft, how typical of you. What did you scare him with? Your looks? If he were talking to me, The Great Azura, then he would’ve never been scared~! But you’re nowhere near as good as me, especially with those hideous clothes and those chubby thighs…!” Azura sarcastically snickered.

 

   Namira whispered loudly to Azura, “Or maybe she was trying to get promiscuous with him~! She is called the Mistress of the night~!”

 

   “Ha! Unlikely! There is no way she would even be capable of that talent! With that form and her being an amateur!” Azura snorted.

 

   “Oh? She’s an amateur, eh?” Namira snickered in a sarcastic tone, looking over at Azura as if this was scripted.

 

   “More like…~!” Azura started as she looked at Nocturnal’s face with a devilish smirk as she continues a little louder, “A virgin ~!”

 

   “Ohhh, is that true~? How-” Namira confirmed louder, looking slightly back but stopped as she saw it.

 

   Nocturnal was staring at Azura, her lips slightly parted and her eyes filled with horror as she whispered, “What have you done sister…? Why would you say that…?”

 

   Azura blinked and looked a bit behind her to see the others seemed to have heard the conversation, but more notably Molag Bal, who had turned his head back to them with this big toothy grin as he eyed his newest prey. The only other two who slightly grinned in delight where Mephala and Sanguine while some of the others at least showed a slight sudden interest. Hircine and Boethiah looked at each other, whispering something as others just stared at Nocturnal. All of them, or who Nocturnal could see, had what seemed like a growing, needy hunger as they gazed. She felt the pain grow unbearable in her chest as she stumbled backwards, stepping over the books. As she quickly turned around she saw a glimpse of Azura’s face turning back but she couldn't make out her expression as she was trying to fight back the tears of what just happened. This situation just got a hundred times worse for Nocturnal.

 

   “Ok! I’m back! Let's get this…meeting… started?” Hermaeus Mora exclaimed before noticing what was going on and he said, “Nocturnal..? What’s… Where are you…?”

 

   Nocturnal couldn’t handle this anymore. She didn’t want to drag Hermaeus Mora into this mess. As she took a deep breath and low key wiped away the wielding tears at the corners of her eyes, she opened a portal and walked through it home. She didn’t want to be there anymore and this was all thanks to her sister.

 

   “Master! Master are you in there?!”

 

   Nocturnal jolted away from her flashback as she immediately looked around in shock and a bit of fear as to who was screaming for her but only to jump once more when a raven jumped into her lap. The raven cawed and rustled its feathers as it nudged Nocturnal’s hand, wanting her to pet him. She looked down at him as she complied, a monocle and bowtie decorated this particular bird gave away on who this was. It was her loyal subject and advisor, Nox Eternis.

 

   “Nox Eternis! You scared me…!” Nocturnal whispered to him with a frown.

 

   The raven lowered his head and cawed, “I’m sorry Master… but you were crying as you blankly stared into that pond! Even I was waving my wings in front of you, you didn’t break your gaze! I had to make sure you were ok…”

 

   Nocturnal put her fingers up to her eyes and realized he was right. Tears were streaming down her face. She smiled as her raven servant placed his wing on her cheek in concern and wiped her face. She held up her hand as Nox Eternis put down his wing and hopped onto it with delight. Nocturnal then stood up and started walking up the grassy hills towards the direction of her dark castle.

 

   “Nox Eternis… I need you to do something…” Nocturnal said with a calm tone.

 

   “And what is that, my master?” Nox Eternis asked, tilting his head.

 

   Nocturnal took a deep breath and exclaimed, “Something is coming… Something big and I need Evergloom to be prepared. Meaning I need every Shrike I have to be ready to defend my castle a moment's notice, every Wrath of Crows to be on guard here and I need every crow to be cawing if a stranger is here… Got it?”

 

   Nox Eternis bowed and said, “Of course, Master. I shall do this at once!”

 

   Nox Eternis suddenly took off from her hand and flew up into the sky cawing. Nocturnal watched him for a bit before feeling a chill up her spine as if someone let in a cool breeze. She immediately looked around for any signs of a portal opening or something else from another of her fellow prince's realms. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary but could still feel that chill up her spine. Nocturnal slowly hugged herself before she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Her shadow was smiling at her.

 

     _“Oh, something is coming indeed~! But it isn’t what you think, deary~!”_

 


	2. The Unexpected Meeting

 

   Nocturnal turned her head away and said, “What do you want? I thought I told you to stay quiet…!”

 

_ “Oh don’t be like that~! I can’t stay silent forever now… especially with such interesting events unfolding~! You’re gonna need me~!” _

 

   “No! I won’t! Go back into darkness, my shadow…!” Nocturnal hissed at it.

 

   The shadow exclaimed in delight with its ghostly voice as it grinned wider, showing off its large fangs and unnaturally wide grin of sharp teeth. In a slow and jerking manner, it slowly arose from its place in her dark shadow. As it rose up, the silhouette that followed Nocturnal’s back peeled from the grass to form a large hooded cloak connected by a rune that had the daedric letter of ‘U’. It towered over Nocturnal, hunching its back as out from the hood popped out wavy jet black hair followed by a blank white face with a toothy grin. It raised its chin up, twitching and shaking its head as it flipped the ends of its hair on its shoulders. As it laughed out, it showed off its rows of teeth and a snake-like tongue.

 

_ “Ohoho~! I don’t abide by you, deary~! You know deep down just how powerful you are without me, so just think of when we combine our powers…!” _

 

   “...g-get away… I don’t wa-want your power…!” Nocturnal whispered.

 

   From the darkness of its cloak, rose two baggy sleeved arms as those same long boney fingers tipped with sharp claws peered out. Nocturnal had her suspicions before but now they were confirmed. She watched as those hands cautiously approached either side of her face as it laughed more. It slowly cupped them around Nocturnal’s face as it crept closer, almost engulfing her in the cloak. Its pale skin was cold on hers as it rubbed its thumbs over her cheekbones and tilted her head up. It pulled up on her face slightly, making Nocturnal stand on her toes and hold onto its wrist. It brought her face right up to Nocturnal’s, it’s lips ghosting over hers as it snickered with that never ceasing grin. It’s cold breath hitting her face as it spoke again but this time in a whisper.

 

_ “You may not want it, not now at least, but you’ll NEED it~! Remember what happened, deary~? Your pathetic brat of a sister spoiled a dangerous secret of yours... and I know you can sense it. On the winds of Evergloom, most of the other daedric princes are drawing closer…. Urging, hungering for your purity~! Don’t you think you’ll need more power to defend yourself~? To get revenge on that Azura for what she’s done~? Annnnd maybe you can even get Hermaeus Mora to claim the prize~!” _

 

   Nocturnal curled her lip a bit as she tugged on its wrist, snarling, “Let me go…! I can do it myself! I c-can get him myself! I don’t ever… I don’t want… I DON’T NEED YOUR POWER…!” 

 

   She held up her now purple glowing hand, using a bit of her reserved power and slamming it down onto its blank face. Its grin turned upside down as Nocturnal felt herself hurled forward towards the ground. Aiming herself right, she lands on all four of her limbs as her hand of power slammed into the ground, making creaks of purple in the darkened grass. She panted as she realized she had snapped. When her shadow mentioned Hermaeus Mora, it just went too far for her. She admitted to herself that she did feel an attraction for the prince but she always wanted to get him herself, not with the power of this shadow. She wanted the moment to be special when has him, not terrifying or a power move the shadow probably intended. Sighing and looking down, she saw that she forced it back into the darkness of her silhouette as it rippled like water with a goopy sound as the shadow’s upside down smile extended as it hissed.

 

_ “You will see! You’ll see that you are wrong and it won’t be too long anyway…! You can feel it now… princes have entered Evergloom! You can’t run and hide from this, deary!” _

 

   Nocturnal got up, panting, as she stopped her powerful magic from flowing through her fist. She looked up at the horizon of trees and felt eyes staring at her then came the feeling. The feeling of powerful beings in Evergloom. She looked back at her dark castle and saw Wrath of Crows climbing its walls, positioning themselves on parts of the roof and balconies. Nocturnal jumped and wiped her head around hearing the murders of crows burst from the trees cawing. She immediately turned to run but freezes seeing her shadow extended up as a gateway with a portal opened in it, showing the inside of her castle. 

 

   Nocturnal back looked down with a frown at her shadow, mumbling, “I told you already I don’t want-”

 

_ “Oh just go through the portal before they come…!” _

 

   That pale hand came shooting out of the shadows and shoved Nocturnal through the portal. The force of it pushing her made her body and face meet the ground as she groaned in confusion from a bruised nose. She recognized the black and purple rug under her to the black stone pillars holding the sides of stairs. She was in the main hall of her castle. She thought she probably tripped over her own feet after being shoved into said portal and glared down at her shadow as she picked herself back up, brushing off her bottom of her robe.

 

   Nocturnal growled at her shadow, “Why I outta-!”

 

   “Master! Master!” 

 

   Her head quickly looked up to see Nox Eternis come flying to her cawing out in pants, “Master...! Quick...! This is… this is bad news!”

 

   She rushed to hold up her hands to keep her raven from crashing into her face, saying, “Woah... Woah! Let’s slow down here! What’s the bad news?”

 

   Nox Eternis took breaths as he kept himself hovering in front of her face before cawing out loudly, “Daedric Princes are at your gate! They demand to see you, Master…”

 

   “What?!” Nocturnal exclaimed before demanding, “Which Princes?!”

 

   “M-Mehrunes Dagon, Hircine, Mephala, Sanguine, Boethiah… I think that’s all...” Nox Eternis named as he looked to the side to think a bit.

 

   “You think? Ah, nevermind! Be sure my Wraths of Crows and Shrikes are ready! I’ll address the visiting Princes, but I want you to make sure all the gates surrounding this castle are locked and remain always locked...! Got it?” Nocturnal ordered as she marched over to her castles front door.

 

   Nox Eternis nodded and flew off cawing, seemingly orders, very loudly. Nocturnal felt a knot grow in her stomach as she flung opened those grand black stoned doors to the courtyard. She took a deep breath before walking on the stone walkway, heading directly to the middle of the courtyard towards the immense fountain with the statue being of her in the middle. She nodded her head to the large Wrath of Crows on either side of the fountain as she floated up to the top of the fountain, standing on the head of the statue. She had a perfect view over the metal gate to the outside of her castle and could fully see the princes waiting outside. There was more than the ones Nox Eternis said. Seems that Jyggalag was there as well but also Hermaeus Mora surprisingly in the front, looking as if to calm everyone down.

 

   Hermaeus Mora spoke calmly to everyone, saying, “Now, now everyone! We didn’t need to stop the meeting and barge into Evergloom! Nocturnal left for her own reasons and let’s respec-”

 

   “Pffft! No! Hermaeus Mora, you weren't there! We’re not JUST here cause Nocturnal left…!” Sanguine interrupted. 

 

   Hermaeus Mora blinked and asked, “Then why are we here...?”

 

   “Azura revealed that Nocturnal is a virgin, Brother! Of course, almost all of us are gonna jump on that opportunity!” Mephala clarified, and nudging Hermaeus Mora a bit she added, “Maybe even you~!”

 

   Hermaeus Mora blushed and glared at her before shifting his gaze to the portal appearing close by. Azura walked out and up to the rest with Namira and Vaermina following closely behind. Azura remained surprisingly silent and looked as if she was worried about something. Nocturnal couldn’t possibly think or believe it was about her but Azura looked straight up at Nocturnal and pointed, causing the others to look up as well. They all looked up at her, some looking needy others seeming interested into what she was going to say. 

 

   The knot in her stomach grew with the sprouting pain in her chest as she gave a deep breath. She was about to speak but stopped herself when she noticed most of them were looking at her. They were gazing at her body and drooling, even Hermaeus Mora and Jyggalag minus the drooling. The only ones actually paying attention to her was her sister, Namira and Vaermina. If she spoke then, no one would’ve been listening but, knowing her sister, she and her gang probably wouldn’t listen to ether so all Nocturnal’s words would fall on deaf ears. Nocturnal took a deep sigh and braced herself as she reached up to her hood, pulling it down slowly and tossing around her black hair as she looked back down at them. Now she has their attention.

 

   A tiny breeze though Evergloom blew some of her hair into her face as she parted her lips, whispering, “I know all of you are here for…  _ that _ … but none of you is going to get it. So please, just turn around and go back to your rea-”

 

   “Hey cutie! Show us your tits!” Sanguine shouted, interrupting her.

 

   “Haha! Sanguine! Too fast…! But I wouldn’t mind such a show~! Would you grant us that honor, Nocturnal~?” Mephala laughed.

 

   “...No.” Nocturnal sternly said with a frown.

 

   Sanguine pouted a bit as Mephala placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking up again, “Worth a shot~! But dear Nocturnal~! Why don’t you-”

 

   “I said no!” Nocturnal interrupted, hissing under her breath as she spoke.

 

   They became silent. Mephala pouting slightly with Sanguine as Hircine and spoke up finally, “You know Nocturnal, you can’t hold out forever on this now that we know… so why don’t you let me-”

 

   “I already said no one's getting it! Now just... leave…!” Nocturnal said, keeping herself from shouting or getting anymore irritated than she already was.

 

   “Gahh! This is stupid and pointless to argue with her! Let us in and we can get this over with…!” Mehrunes Dagon shouted before slamming his hands down on the gates, causing a squeak from Hermaeus Mora who was still right in front of that gate.

 

   The gate bent to Mehrunes Dagon’s strength, creaking open slightly as Hermaeus Mora fell to the ground shaking as the crushing of the gate and Mehrunes Dagon was where he was stuck between. Jyggalag, who was quiet and to the side of the group, finally started to approach but mostly towards Mehrunes Dagon. The Wrath of Crows guarding gave a low warning caw before gripping their scythes as the Prince of Destruction growled and Jyggalag stepped closer. Suddenly, the red prince was thrown backwards and went tumbling before getting his head stuck into the ground. This caused even Jyggalag to freeze and seeing who did it, Nocturnal couldn’t blame him as the one who tossed him was a very irritated Boethiah. 

 

   Mehrunes Dagon pulled his head up from the dirt and yelled, “Grrrah! What the hell Boethiah?! Do you want to-”

 

   “I want you to shut up! And you’d be wise to so or Nocturnal is going to have to wash your dismantled corpse off the front of this gate!” Boethiah growled as she pulled her sword out in flash and pointed it right as the red prince’s face.

 

   Dagon was going to protest but Mephala put her hand in front of Dagon’s mouth and whispered, “Don’t. Boethiah isn’t one to mess with, especially when she irritated. Doubt you can take her and doubt any will help you. Save yourself and stop.”

 

   Dagon stopped as Mephala pulled her hand away and Hircine spoke again, “Well what do you suggest Boethiah?”

 

   “Glad that you asked…now I can agree with some of their points but instead of them forcing their… dominance on you.” Boethiah started before glaring back at the others and continuing, “Why don’t you choose who you want…?”

 

   Nocturnal placed her hands on her hips as she said, “Well then let's leave that me then! Even IF I’m gonna choose, I’m not going to right here and now! Especially when you came uninvited, trying to force sexual means onto me AND… you crushed my castle’s gate! So just leave…  _ leave me alone...! _ ” 

 

   Nocturnal could feel herself steaming as anger started to boil into her that she didn’t realize her voiced changed, but she could see that her guests suddenly started to back up, even Boethiah. Some of them started to look a bit nervous while all but Mora started to get defensive. He was still sitting in that same spot but now he was looking up at her. His eyes widened as they were filled with a mixture of shock and fear, but she could also sense a great curiosity coming from them. Nocturnal blinked a bit and slowly glanced over her shoulder, seeing that her shadow was draping onto the castle walls and was looking was more sinister than her original. 

 

_ “My deary, why don’t you let me in your heart…? They would all go away if they knew me~! None would bother you about your purity if you just combine with me~! I’ll give you a glimpse-no… a taste of what it’d feel like…!” _

 

   The shadow whispered to Nocturnal. Staying silent, Nocturnal noticed it lacked its usual wicked toothy grin but tried to pay this shadow no mind as it slowly extended its creaking bony hand. She tried to use her shadows to stop the hand and not draw attention to herself, but from the sound of stretching and bits of tearing, she could tell her shadows wasn’t going to hold or force that hand back. She only thought of one thing. She had to get the others out of here before something happened, to her or to them, she would NOT allow that thing to gain that she can now sense what it wants. Attention. To be known and to be feared by all. 

 

   “Nocturnal… What is…” Hermaeus Mora whispered.

 

   She turned her head around slowly, her face vacant of all emotions as she mumbled, “Get out. All of you...”

 

   “Nocturnal please…” Hermaeus Mora whispered more as he stood up and put his hands on the gates, staring at Nocturnal as he continued his whispers, “What is that… that in which you hide in shadows and keep from us… Why…why…?”

 

   “Hermaeus Mora…!” She began to hiss in a warning as she felt her nerves start to take her over, feeling its hand creep ever so close to her.

 

   “WHY WON’T YOU JUST SHOW ME-US IT..!” He yelled out as he clutched the metal bars of the gate, his face seemed way too filled with curiosity that he just snapped and it showed more as he drooled, continuing, “You can’t keep everything hidden in your obscuring shadow… how would we ever know…how would I ever know... what you truly want if you just keep it bottled up!? You can reveal some without showing us all! So why?! Why won’t you just-”

 

   “YOU CAN’T KNOW!” Nocturnal screamed, hearing the shadow snap out of its bonds and placing a finger on her back, causing a shiver to rush up her body as she clutched herself. She whispered, “You can’t… Hermaeus Mora… You can’t know because it hurts me when you do so! It’s best to leave some things unknown and forgotten in the shadows… That’s why you can’t know what I hide because… b-because…”

 

   Nocturnal couldn’t hold back the chills much longer as it consumed her shaking body. She looked down and could see in the water that her eyes started to glow an intense, dark shade of purple. She could felt it. It’s influence, its power starting to flow into her, creeping and crawling through her daedric body and mind. Seemingly, it felt as if it was searching. Searching for a way into her most vulnerable spot. Her heart. She had to stop this before something happened but thought this too late as she felt her arm go numb as it shot out in front of her, tensing its fingers as if clutching something. Her eyes slowly followed an inky trail of shadow that protruded from her own to what extended out as a large boney, clawed hand, but this one was clutching tightly around Hermaeus Mora’s face and neck. He struggled against the hand but looked slightly mortified at the hand then back up at Nocturnal. Nocturnal could feel the panic and terror start to fill her overwhelmed heart as Jyggalag and Mephala rushed to Hermaeus Mora’s aid only to be stopped by the shadowy tendrils emerging from the base of the hand. Nocturnal could feel the shadow, hear the shadow practically chant in her head.

 

_ “The others will soon run now, but… kill him~! Kill Hermaeus Mora~! With us together, we have the power to just crush that pathetic body into pulp and then we will have his soul~! Together, with us, forever~! You wouldn’t have to feel so lonely and deprived inside, my deary~! Hehe, I can feel it! Yes! Want it! URGE it, my deary…! All that companionship in the shadows could be yours with just...one...pinch~!” _

 

   Nocturnal felt her body, her heart, almost pleading for her to just give in and squeeze her numbed hand. But something else rang in her. She didn’t want this. This is what the shadow wanted. She had to act with what little power she had left in her control to act quickly as Hermaeus Mora was panicking under a slowly squeezing grip. Jyggalag quickly drew his sword, rushing over to help Hermaeus Mora but the tendrils were quicker as they swiped at him from under his feet and wrapping around his heels.

 

   “...N-Noctur...nal…! S-sto...p!” Hermaeus Mora gasped out as he watched Jyggalag get swarmed by more tendrils.

 

   “Nocturnal! Let him go! W-we’ll leave! Just let him go-!” Mephala screeched up to her as she reached for her brother only to be grabbed by a tendril as well.

 

   “Mephala!” Sanguine yelled as he grabbed onto one of her many arms, tugging.

 

   “...b-because…” Nocturnal felt the whisper exit her lips.

 

   “Nocturnal! Sto-” Boethiah began to yell before she was cut off from a tendril grabbing her wrist.

 

   “B-BECAUSE…!” Nocturnal screamed to herself as she grabbed her numbed arm and started pulling it back to her.

 

   She glanced up to see Hircine standing in front of a forever stunned Mehrunes Dagon and a completely horrified Azura. Namira was behind her just looked nervous and Vaermina was blank as her masked perfectly hide her emotions. Even though Nocturnal and Azura weren’t the greatest of sisters to each other, it still hurt Nocturnal a bit to see Azura in a state of pure terror, though most of her felt like this was her fault, to begin with. But Nocturnal could sense that Azura knew this, and for once, felt what seemed like regret or maybe that was just the shadow playing with Nocturnal’s mind. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut as she fought her own hand. She couldn’t take it anymore.

   “...because I don’t...I didn’t want you all to get hurt… I don’t want you to get hurt…from me...” Nocturnal choked out in a whispered as she felt her eyes swell up with tears as she continued, “... so please… all of you... just… LEAVE!” 

 

   With that last yell and all of what she could control, she pulled everyone away from Evergloom and from her. The could feel the hiss of her shadow buzz in her ear as she yanked everyone away through a portal to Apocrypha. Back to somewhere safer than here, she thought. The shadowy, boney hand in front of the gate seemed displeased as it slowly turned to face it’s palm towards Nocturnal, revealing a large eye in it. It was mostly white except for the glowing, large purple iris with a plus for its pupil. It stared into Nocturnal as if mocking her for what she missed out on. Gripping her arm tighter, Nocturnal whirled it around and slashed that shadowy arm from touching her body, panting and glaring up to where her shadow’s face would be. The shadow started to shrink and pull out of her body, filling Nocturnal with a sense of relief but also a great exhaustion. The shadow hissed out at her like a cat as it retreated back into her shadow.

 

_ “Don’t think you have won the battle over me, my deary~! This is only just the beginning…you WILL need me… just you see!” _

 

   Nocturnal just stood there on her fountain as she slowly looked around her, noticing her Wrath of Crows that were in her courtyard were gone. After a few quick glances, she found them, hiding in the bushes with the Shrikes and crows. They were cowering. Cowering from her. She took a deep sigh and hugged herself as she floated back down to stone pathway, heading for her castle’s doors. 

 

   Just then, she heard a caw from behind her, “M-Master...! Wait for me!”

 

   She could already tell from the voice that it was her advisor, Nox Eternis. She quickly patted her left shoulder and her advisor came gliding down, landing on it. He poofed up his feathers a bit and got comfortable on her shoulder, but Nocturnal could tell from his eyes that he had seen everything.

 

   As she swung open and shut her large castle doors, walking down the main hall as Nox Eternis whispered a concerning caw to Nocturnal, “So Master… what actually was that?”

 

   She sighed, as that question was not her favorite one at this moment, but she trusts her advisor with many secrets of her shadows beforehand so she felt a bit more comfortable sharing, “It… It was my shadow, coming to life.”

 

   “Your… your shadow? Could it always do that?” Nox Eternis asked, tilting his head and adjusting his monocle with his wing.

 

   “Yes…actually well it couldn’t do this ALWAYS…” Nocturnal mumbled as she stopped halfway through the main hall.

 

   “Then when did it… start to become like this?” Nox Eternis cawed in curiosity as he crept closer to Nocturnal’s face and leaned against it in an attempt to comfort her.

 

   “A long, long time ago…when I…” Nocturnal started to answer before feeling herself freeze at the thought.

 

   “Y-you don’t have to continue if you don’t wish too, Master!” Nox Eternis cawed calmly as he nuzzled his feathery head onto her forehead.

 

   Nocturnal couldn’t help but start to smile at the raven’s brave attempts to comfort her after witnessing her bad side. She already wished she could’ve changed what happened out there. Maybe even stopped Azura from spilling out such a dreadful secret. But she couldn’t help but have this lingering thought in her mind. That the shadow was right. When she combined with him temporarily, the other princes backed away from their goal of her purity and she dared say they won’t come back to Evergloom unless she invited them. The shadow was telling the truth but that seemed way too eerie to Nocturnal as she shuddered a bit from thinking that. 

 

   “Maybe you could answer this though… Does it have a name?” Nox Eternis asked soothingly as he patted the top of her head with his wing.

 

   “A name?” Nocturnal asked.

 

   “Yeah, for the shadow! Did you name it?” Nox Eternis asked again, adding a few more of his soothing pats before he began to preen a bit of her hair.

 

   “No… I didn’t give it that honor as it’s just my shadow and I felt like giving it a name would empower it to become even more different than it already was to me.” She sighed as she slowly let her arm fall to her sides and looked down at the ground, towards her shadow.

 

   “That may be so, but from what I saw… it already accomplished that without a name and besides, though it may think it’s gaining more of a contrast to you by giving it such an honor, only us will know its name and true self. Wouldn’t that give us a bit more of control instead?” Nox Eternis explained as he continued preening her hair.

 

   “I guess that is true…” Nocturnal mumbled as she frowned down at her shadow.

 

   Nox Eternis perked his head up from preening her and cawed, “Soooo Master? What are you gonna call it~?”

 

   “I have no idea! Not like I can ask it what it wants to be called!” Nocturnal exclaimed as she put her hands on her hips.

 

   “Itzal. That name seems… fitting, for a shadow cast by you~!”

 

   Nocturnal jumped at the sudden loud and deep echoey voice from behind her. That was far too much of a tonal shift for Nox Eternis to pull off in an instant, but something about her shadow took Nocturnal by surprise. It was changed again, but it wasn’t like how it usually formed. It was taller, thinner and spikes seemed to cover its body. When Nocturnal got a look at the horns on its head, she quickly whipped around as this shadow wasn’t hers but the daedric prince who casting it behind her. Molag Bal.

 


	3. Chasing Shadows

 

   Nocturnal backed up a bit as Molag Bal was right there in front of her, kneeling on his knees with his clawed hands intertwined with each other. He had this devious smirk as he snickered a bit, checking out Nocturnal’s body a bit. Nox Eternis cawed out of annoyance and cleared his throat as Nocturnal snapped out her staring turned herself to the side with a frown.

 

   “What?!...why.. how did you…?” Nocturnal mumbled as she backed up more, clutching her own arms as she felt uneasy around this certain intruder.

 

   “First of all… I said Itzal would be a fitting name for you to name your… shadow was it?” Molag Bal snickered as he pointed to the ground behind Nocturnal, lashing his tail behind him.

 

   Nocturnal just raised an eyebrow and crossed hers, knowing that he wanted her to turn around and she wasn’t going to find out why he wanted that as she sarcastically replied, “Yes my shadow… and I’ll consider it as a name for it but why are you here and how did you get in here?”

 

   Molag Bal started to laugh before separating his hands and reaching out a hand to her, tracing it up Nocturnal’s body and snickering, “Don’t play stupid, you know why I’m here~! And here I thought today was going amazingly after my time stealing Namira’s first today~! But now that I know your little secret… how long did you think you could hide and evade me? Seems not very long… hehe~! As for how I got here~!”

 

   He started to laugh with a bit of drool dribbling down the right side of his mouth as his hand trailed up to her face as he whispered, “Your Shrikes have quite beautiful and alluring bodies~! I couldn’t help myself but taste ALL the ones you had guarding the east side gate of this castle… I don’t remember if any survived, but I do know that I made sure none could scream during or after my heh…  _ time _ … with them~!”

 

   “You… You raped them?!” Nox Eternis cawed out angrily.

 

   “Such is my nature~! I just can’t help but break the body and spirit of any gorgeously ravishing virgin I come across~! They are just so mesmerizing, I get the urge to NEED them~! Hehehehe…~!” Molag Bal whispered more as his hand cupped around Nocturnal’s face.

 

   Nox Eternis puffed up his feathers and in a swift motion, jabbed his beak into the back of Molag Bal’s palm, cawing out once he pulled out of his flesh, “Don’t you touch her...! Don’t you EVER touch her! You… insufferable… pesky… pig…!”

 

   Molag Bal growled as he snapped his eyes to Nox Eternis, glaring. His hand moved away from Nocturnal’s face and flicked at the raven, sending him zooming through the air and out of a glass window. Molag Bal’s hand healed quickly and he smirked down at Nocturnal. She was still trying to process all that just happened but still thought to back up as Molag Bal crept forward. She was still speechless on what just happened and kept backing up, hugging herself and glancing around to look for routes of escape. Molag Bal’s smirk grew wicked as his tongue slithered out of his mouth and eyes suddenly glowed a bright white. All the curtains on the windows in the main hall closed shut and dawned a bright blue ward as Molag Bal started to laugh. Nocturnal reached the door behind her but just as she let go of herself to push it open, a giant glowing ward appeared on the door and it was locked shut. Nocturnal pushed it a couple times to no avail before freezing when she felt breath on her back. Her hand glowed purple as she quickly turned around, forcing shadows to come up with her as she knew it was Molag Bal right there. She closed her eyes when she did so, hearing a bit of screech and the stomping backwards of his footsteps as she assumed her shadows hit their mark.

 

   “You little…!” Molag Bal roared out.

 

   Nocturnal shot open her eyes when she heard the sizzling and brewing blue flames in Molag Bal’s throat. She went to bolt to her left but Molag Bal spewed out the blue flames out in front of her. She tripped over her feet trying to stop herself from running through those scorching bright blue flames. She quickly turned her head around but only to see Molag Bal spew flames on the other side as well. She clenched her fist as she could feel her powers diminishing. Just as Nocturnal feared, the flames were too bright for her shadows to manifest. She glared over at Molag Bal and judging by his smirk, he knew this fact as well. She was trapped between a warded door, two walls of flames and the king of rape. This was not a spot Nocturnal didn’t want to be in, so she thought to go the one direction that was opened to her. 

 

   “You… you can’t corner me! This is my castle! This is my realm! I have the power here, not YOU!” Nocturnal scream as she scrambled onto her feet.

 

   “Bwahaha~! And what can you do against me in this? You can’t fight me! And you have nowhere to go…!” Molag Bal laughed as he neared Nocturnal, reaching his greedy hand to her.

 

   Nocturnal jumped and, using the back of Molag Bal’s hand, she launched herself upwards to the second story of her castle. Though she knew Molag Bal warded the windows and the doors downstairs, she thought that he forgot about the upstairs doors. Seems Nocturnal was right as she burst through those doors and, hearing Molag Bal climb up from the ground floor, she started bolting down the hall. As she ran down the hall to the next room, she could hear those claws on his feet clicking and slashing on the stone of the hall. He was starting to come fast down the same hall of her. She ran through the doors of the next room and quickly closed them, and locking them as she looked around. Though it was semi-dark, Nocturnal knew exactly where she was.

 

   “This is the tower on the left side of my castle… I haven’t been here in ages!” Nocturnal whispered as she rushed more to the middle of the room before jumping as she heard a loud thud against the locked door behind her.

 

   The door rattle and cracked more as it was becoming obvious that her pursuer was trying to break in. She quickly looked around and ran to the smallest pillar holding the very few first steps of the stairs leading up. She hid behind it and underneath the cover of stairs itself, draped in the shadows of them. Peering through the opening between the pillar the ground step, she saw Molag Bal burst throw the doors. He lashed his tail around as he narrowed his eyes and looked around.

 

   “Noooctuuurnaaaal~!” He said long and mockingly as he continued, “Wheereee aaaareee yoooou~?”

 

_ “He’s gonna find you…” _

 

   Nocturnal heard that dreaded shadow’s voice whisper in her ear as Molag Bal slowly crept around the room. He was smirking as he kept searching for Nocturnal, growling in delight of this game he thought they were playing. Nocturnal put a hand over her mouth to keep herself from saying anything as she looked down for a split second to see her shadow bubble. This damn shadow of hers always chooses the worst times to appear.

 

   “I’m going to find you, dear~!” Molag Bal said as he peeked down the stairs to see if she was running down.

 

_ “I told you… Molag Bal is no fool. You can’t hide from him easily...” _

 

   “So what’s the use of hiding then…!” Molag Bal hissed with that grin still plastered on his face.

 

_ “You see? You need my help if you don’t want him to get you…!” _

 

   Nocturnal wished her shadow would shut up, but she couldn’t help but have a sinking feeling that it was right or maybe that was its influence starting to kick in. The bubbling shadow under her started to form into its familiar shape, but this time it was wedged into the hiding space with Nocturnal. It’s hair drooped down on either side of Nocturnal’s face as it’s boney hands twitched and click, trying to reach for hers. She could feel its hands meet hers as its shadowy cloak, if you could call it that, felt like it was just oozing over her. Every part of it now was touching her body, much to her discomfort about the thought of their position, and she could immediately feel it’s emotional control. It was urging her to give in.

 

_ “How do even hope to get out of this situation? By hiding in this spot after you realized running wasn’t gonna help? You only cornered yourself! You HAVE to use my power now… so come on…!” _

 

   Nocturnal glared but snapped out of it, hearing those claws tapping on the stone as a growl rang out, “Nocturnal…! Stop this game and just submit to me…!” 

 

_ “Come on…!” _

 

   The shadow whispered to her as it’s sharp, toothy grin opened and a snake tongue slithered out by Nocturnal’s ear. She started to shake as the situation she was in just kept getting worse and worse. The approaching steps of Molag Bal wasn’t helping.

 

   “I told you it was useless to hide…!” Molag Bal chuckled sinisterly as he stopped right in front of Nocturnal’s hiding spot as he continued, “I heard the little steps of your feet in this room~! You didn’t go faaar~! And…!”

 

_ “Come on, deary…!” _

 

   “I can smell a virgin from anywhere in a realm~!” Molag Bal mockingly whispered before he slowly sniffed the air and continued to speak, turning himself forwards and licking his lips, “And your scent is particularly sweet…!”  

 

_ “Give in now! He knows…!” _

 

   Molag Bal suddenly dropped to all fours and his eyes locked onto Nocturnal’s as he gleefully screamed, “Gotcha ya..!”

 

   Nocturnal felt herself freeze as she saw Molag Bal’s eyes. Her heart about dropped as the prince of domination reached his hand around the pillar for her arm. She couldn’t do anything. Her shadow was right, she cornered herself.

 

   His claws dug itself into her clothes and skin as he tore her right arm to drag her out of her hiding spot. Nocturnal put up as much of a fight she could but her hiding spot limited her movement. He pulled her out and held her up by her arm as he smirked, checking out her body. She struggled as she tried to wrench her hand free from Molag Bal’s grasp but just started to shiver as Molag Bal pressed his nose against her belly, sniffing a bit with his eyes half-lidded. His tongue slowly slid out of his mouth as he kept his smirk. 

 

   “So sweet~! I wonder… I wonder if you smell so sweet then do taste as such~?” Molag Bal questioned as he tried to slither his tongue underneath her robe.

 

_ “Are you just going to let him do this?! Attack him! Get him off you! You are stronger than him! You are stronger than any of those princes! Stop him!” _

 

   As if on command by the shadow, Nocturnal’s hand glowed purple as she commanded her shadows to attack. Shadow tendrils shot out of the ground where Molag Bal’s shadow was casted. Some of them stabbed into Molag Bal’s sides and back while others wrapped around his limbs. He screeched before dropping Nocturnal to the floor as he began to fight his sudden foe. A blue fire started to churn in the back of his throat before spewing it on the shadows attacking him, causing them to sizzle and retreat back as the fire was too bright. He growled and kept spewing on his own shadow. Nocturnal knew it wouldn’t be long before his attention would be back on her. Before she could command more, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist and cause her to glance down. It was her shadow.

 

_ “I won’t be affected by that fire, deary…” _

 

   “I don’t… I… don’t…” Nocturnal stuttered as she wanted to say that she didn’t need her shadows help, but could help but think that she actually did need its help.

 

_ “Stop denying it further… just accept me!” _

 

   “I won’t let you show yourself…!” Nocturnal whispered to it.

 

_ “Then let me lend you some power…! Maybe you’ll realize when you get more of a little taste…” _

 

   Nocturnal was silent for a bit before taking a deep breath and sighing before she mumbled, “Just a little taste…?”

 

_ “Just a little taste…~!” _

 

   Nocturnal let it in a little bit before standing back up just as Molag Bal was turning around and growling, “Oh I am now gonna thoroughly enjoy ripping into and pounding that sweet, tender flesh of yours…!”

 

   “If you can even get to me…!” Nocturnal hissed out as she lifted both of her purple glowing hands.

 

_ “That’s it deary~! Let’s show this pig who he’s REALLY dealing with here…!’ _

 

   Nocturnal stayed quiet as she swung her right hand to her lefts side, summoning a shadow hand from the flaming blue area of where his shadow was. Before Molag Bal could react, the flaming shadow hand immediately slapped him in the face. Molag Bal shook his head before blinking at the flaming hand then looking around him as more started to rise around him. He snarled and glared at Nocturnal before they all started to claw into him. For how many hands were summoned, Molag Bal still put up quite a fight. Nocturnal was just standing there, watching and holding her hands out as she felt her eyes heat up when she heard Molag Bal’s screeching.

 

   “No…! Nocturnal…! Stop…!” He screeched.

 

_ “No…! Don’t…! Let him scream! Let him feel the pain! Haha! See how satisfying this is~? Now make him regret ever coming here and thinking he could every take your… precious, delicate purity! TeAr HiM aPaRt~!” _

 

   When Nocturnal finally processed what was happening and what she was doing, she realized that this was more than just a little taste of power. The shadow was trying to get her to kill another prince again. Though maybe Molag Bal would have deserved it, the repercussions would not be worth smashing this pathetic pig to Nocturnal. She quickly forced her hands to go down.

 

_ “What are you doing?!” _

 

   “...no… I won’t kill another prince…” Nocturnal whispered to herself quietly.

 

_ “But now he's going to get you! And you just obeyed him…! You’re dooming yourself!” _

 

   Nocturnal didn’t reply. She just stood there, clenching her fists before suddenly feeling her feet get swept away from the ground beneath her. She fell on her back and quickly went to sit up but got pinned by the blue bladed tail of Molag Bal. She squirmed a bit in the grasp of his tail, trying to free one of her arms but she kept her gaze fixed on her attacker. He stayed silent too. Just standing there, panting and growling as his claw marks slowly healed. He stomped over and quickly got on all fours over her. He leaned his head closer to hers before suddenly receiving a punch to the face by one of Nocturnal’s freed hands.

 

   “Gahhh! Why you little…!” Molag Bal screeched before Nocturnal punched him again but this time, right between the legs.

 

   As he went down, curling around himself in pain, she quickly got herself back on her feet. She rushed to the stairs downwards, creating a shadow of herself that continued upstairs. Molag Bal shook his head a bit but his eyes snapped to the shadow running up and he roared, shaking the building before he started to chase that shadow upwards. Nocturnal quickly breathed a sigh of relief as she carefully stepped downstairs, hoping she wouldn’t make too much noise to catch Molag Bal’s attention. 

 

   Nocturnal mumbled quietly to herself, “You didn’t have to make me do that…”

 

_ “But if I didn’t... you would be screaming in pain as his claws would dug themselves deep in your skin and his-” _

 

   “I don’t need to hear the rest…!” She hissed quietly to herself as she kept walking down the stairs, flashing a glare down at her shadow.

 

_ “Ohh but it’s the truth, deary~! I wouldn’t want such a fate on you~!” _

 

   She rolled her eyes, continuing, “Oh so you suddenly cared…”

 

_ “Oh hush! If I just let you get dominated by that disgusting… THING… I would feel that filth on me! It would be absolutely disgusting!” _

 

   “Ah, I see... You just didn’t want to be disgusted by the sight and feeling of him in me.” Nocturnal sighed.

 

_ “About the sum of it deary~! Awww~! Don’t be sad~! I do care for you and your abilities… I just wished you sought my guidance more~!” _

 

   “Guidance? Ha… more like ways to get me to mess up the situation I am already in! Like the one I’m already currently in…” 

 

_ “Ha! Mess up? I provided what you non-shadows call help! Fighting them away or even killing them would solve this… situation about your purity!” _

 

   “No, it won’t! That won’t solve the problem, it would just make it worse!”

 

_ “Then what do you think we should do, hmmm?” _

 

   “Well… I can’t keep running away and hiding from everyone now that they know… maybe I should just let someone take it and be done with it...” Nocturnal groaned as she reached the bottom of the stairs, realizing she went all the way to the cellar.

 

   “Phew… I don’t think he can get me from down here…” Nocturnal whispered as she looked up the winding set of stairs.

 

_ “Oh, yea? We’ll see…” _

 

   Nocturnal rolled her eyes and said, “He’s too busy with that shadow I bet… thinking it’s me but he’ll find out that it isn’t~!”

 

_ “It has a timer if you’re saying that… cleaver, but also means you’re racing against time here! If what you said before is what you’re going to do then… who are you gonna choose to be the lucky person~?” _

 

   She paused for a bit as she was giving it some thought out loud, “I… I do not know… Maybe I’ll go with…”

 

_ “Hermaeus Mora?” _

 

   She felt a big red blush spread on her face as she stuttered, “M-maybe… He’s the closest prince to me and probably would be nicer about taking it...”

 

_ “Oh, are you sure about that~?” _

 

   Nocturnal started walking through the dark cellar, looking around as she asked, “What do you mean by that?”

 

_ “Tch! You know very well as I do of those ‘Research’ books he keeps hidden in the corner of his private quarters! He relies on YOUR shadows to keep them hidden~! Maybe you can use that to your advantage…” _

 

   “Hmmm… Maybe. Heh, so you do actually want to help me…” Nocturnal chuckled to herself as she stopped, reaching the way back of the cellar.

 

_ “S-Shut up! Now you have a new objective so lets-…” _

 

   Nocturnal started to giggle uncontrollably as she mumbled, “Someone’s embarrassed!”

 

_ ‘This is not the time to be carelessly laughing at my flaw of caring for you, deary!” _

 

   “I know, I know… but I never took you to be a caring type so I find this funny!” She chuckled.

 

_ “Let’s just-wait… do you feel that?” _

 

   She felt it too. A shift, or disturbance in the air. It only meant one thing, that someone was trying to open a portal to where she was. Nocturnal backed up a bit and looked around to see where it was going to open, seemingly her shadow was doing the same thing.

 

_ “It’s going to be Molag Bal, isn’t it...!?” _

 

   “C-Can’t be! The shadow shouldn’t have dissipated by now!” She said as she readied herself for a battle.

 

_ “Then who… Ah! On the wall…!” _

 

   Nocturnal quickly turned back to the wall to see the portal open up there. The green and black abyssal swirl was all too familiar but before Nocturnal could say a word, a large black tentacle grabbed her and pulled her through the portal. She was quickly dropped onto a grate with a thud. She groaned and looked down, seeing the acidic water running beneath it and quickly rose to her feet. With just a few glances, she could see she was back in Apocrypha but it wasn’t the same place where the meeting was. This looked like more of a private place in Apocrypha with what seems like a desk with a pen and inkwell resting on it, but there was seemingly a person resting at the desk. The black robed figure had his head own in what seemed like a book, unmoving or even reacting to Nocturnal’s presence. Not to mention all the books and paper littering all over the desk and place of this isolated bit of land said something greatly. That this figure was Hermaeus Mora and he was researching deep into something. Nocturnal thought that the reason he summoned her was for said research, but what worried her was on what. 

 

   Nocturnal sighed and shouted, “Hermaeus Mora!! What do you want from me?!”

 

   As if on command, he rose from his desk and kept his head down as he mumbled, “Nocturnal…”

 

   She raised her head a bit and started walking over to him slowly. Hermaeus Mora suddenly burst a couple of tentacles from his back, causing Nocturnal to freeze and her hands to slightly glow purple. One of the tentacles reached over to a stack of books and grabbed the top book before bringing it to Hermaeus Mora, who then began to read it as his other tentacles seemingly were looking for more books. One of them grabbed a purple-covered book with a logo of an eye on it to the desk. Nocturnal calmed herself and slowly began approaching again.

 

_ “How convenient that he’s the one to show up when we were talking about him~! This moment would your perfect opportunity to get what you...hehe… NEED from him~!” _

 

   “Yes…? Tell me why did you dragged me all the way here?” She asked, mentally trying to tell her shadow to shut up.

 

   “I need something…” He whispered.

 

   She was confused at first, saying, “You… need something? After what I did to yo-”

 

   He quickly turned his head around and said, “Do it again!”

 

   “Wha-what?!” She exclaimed.

 

_ “Well, he seems eager~!” _

 

   “Please! Summon or show that shadow again! It’s powers… it’s appearance… It was just a slight taste of what it actually was, wasn’t it? Judging by what I felt… whatever it was I felt… It was immensely powerful even when holding back! Something like that is something I can’t just ignore! What I NEED is to know what it actually was! Please, Nocturnal! Tell me this one secret! Please!” Hermaeus Mora rambled as he turned around, gripping into his hood in frustration and knocking open the purple book.

 

   Nocturnal took a deep breath and replied with a stern voice, “No.”

 


	4. Blinding Shade

 

   “WHAAAT?!”

 

   Hermaeus Mora screamed as he squeezed harder onto his hood, his face slightly lit from the open purple book as the cyan words glowed brightly. He started to race over to Nocturnal, holding his rob up partially but he still was stumbling a bit to get to her. He ran up to her and let go of his robe to put his hands on her shoulders. He looked up right at her with this puppy dog look and Nocturnal couldn’t help herself, but she widened her eyes a bit and started to blush red. He seemed to know what he was doing to get what he wanted as he sniffled a bit.

 

   “H-Hermaeus Mora… Don’t give me that look! I’m not going to tell you about it!” Nocturnal blurted out, trying to keep her composure under her red cheeks and his begging face.

 

   A loud groan came from Hermaeus Mora as he wined, “Oh come on, Nocturnal! I saved you from Molag Bal…! Can’t you-”

 

   “No! You didn’t save me from him…! I was perfectly fine and had escaped him on my own…!” Nocturnal interrupted with a hiss as she pressed her finger against the other whiney prince’s lips.

 

    _“Ha… Ya right!”_

 

   The shadow snorted as Nocturnal tried her best to ignore it and continued, “Listen, I already told you that there are just some things best left forgotten in my shadows, like that shadow in particular, but you can’t seem to get that… so I will say this, don’t research any more about this shadow, it’ll consume every bit of you as you let it slowly in till it gains physicality… you wouldn’t be around after that to record it.”

 

    _“I’d let him write what he saw so that all would know he saw with just a glimpse of my magnificent power and my glorious looks~! Hey… that doesn’t sound too bad~! Why don’t you let him see me..!”_

 

   Nocturnal kept silent as Hermaeus Mora’s face slowly relaxed as he looked down, saying, “Is it really that dangerous that even a fellow daedric prince could fall victim to it...? Or...”

 

    _“You bet I am~! Let me show him…!”_

 

   The shadow was persistent, Nocturnal will give it that as she answered Hermaeus Mora, “You can put it like that… but now do you understand?“

 

   “Gahhh! That just intrigues me more! AND you’re not gonna even give me the slightest of satisfaction of knowing a bit about it... This is just gonna make me go even more insane!” Hermaeus Mora screeched as he grabbed his head and turned around.

 

    _“Awww~! Look at what you did~! Just show-”_

 

   “What do you mean by ‘go even more insane’...?” Nocturnal asked, talking over her shadow’s words as she really didn’t want to hear any more of its whining.

 

   He walked a bit away from her before gripping onto his head and groaning in frustration. Nocturnal blinked a bit in confusion before approaching him only to be stopped when Hermaeus Mora lifted a hand towards her. He slowly lowered himself onto his knees as he still held onto his head in one hand and kept the other out, sighing.

 

   “My head feels like it’s going to explode from boredom and a lack of learning anything new! Like right now! It hurts so bad I can’t think straight anymore! I’ve been craving for such mesmerizing knowledge to temporarily satisfy my insatiable desire to learn! I know already so much that only what escapes me... is what you hide in damnable shadow…!” He said before turning his head back, almost glaring at her as he continued, “But since our previous encounter, I realized that my solution to what my pain is what you’ve been showing me this whole time! Not what your shadow is hiding but the shadow itself! It’s not one of your normal shadows, isn’t it? It’s something special… something dangerous… something-”

 

   “Are you not listening? That’s exactly why I can’t show you… Why can’t you see that?” Nocturnal calm spoke as she walked up to Mora, crouching next to him as she lifted his chin up with one hand as she smiled and added, “Can’t you understand that you’re just too important to me to ever risk putting you in such danger?”

 

    _“Tch! NOW you say something! If you just let me do it, we would’ve already had him in our arms and been starting towards the goal we want with him…!”_

 

   Hermaeus Mora blinked before asking, “I am…?”

 

   “Of course!” Nocturnal answered quickly.

 

   “If you’re not gonna let me see it… then still help me with this!” Hermaeus Mora cried out as he clung onto Nocturnal’s arm before saying, “Let me see more… I NEED something new, something I’ve never experienced before!”

 

   “A new experience…” Nocturnal whispered to herself.

 

   “You… you have something in mind, don’t you… tell me!” Hermaeus Mora begged.

 

    _“Here we go~! We-you got him, deary! Let your feelings be known to him…!”_

 

   Nocturnal couldn’t help but feel the confidence growing her with her shadow’s encouragement, letting her pull Hermaeus Mora into her lap as she sat down on her legs. He was a bit confused being in this new position, having his tentacles hold himself up as he looked up at her. She chuckled as she wrapped her left arm around his waist, holding him close while never breaking a gaze on his surprised face.

 

   “Well, why don’t you try to be… involved in another’s life!” Nocturnal said gently as she traced a finger down his jawline until she cupped the bottom of his chin with her right hand.

 

   “Involved? Do you mean like… interact and make small bonds with the others?” Hermaeus Mora said with a slight disgusted frown.

 

   “Hmmm, maybe get a little closer than just small bonds~! Like get very personal with them and do... actions you would do in secret~!” Nocturnal hummed as she leaned closer to him with her eyes fixated on his.

 

   Hermaeus Mora tilted his head slightly as he raised an eyebrow, asking, “You’re talking about a relationship… but that’s Mara’s spher-”

 

   “Annnd…? Tell me, know it all, do you truly know everything about Mara’s sphere~? Just with a hug and kiss, the two could be connected. With just simple touches and an embrace could lead the pair into an act of pure pleasure~! Oh, how a couple could get so very close…” Nocturnal whispered, pressing her body against his and making him blushed a bit when she leaned her face closer to his as she whispered more, “And intimate with the other without any judgment~! Who wouldn’t want to explore Mara’s sphere and feel the burning desire of another~!”

 

   Hermaeus Mora’s blush grew as he nervously chuckled, “G-Guess I don’t know all of Mara’s sphere… all those things do sound rather nice though…”

 

   He was trying to look away from Nocturnal’s face but the gaze she was giving kept his eyes locked in place. It’s what she was wanting anyway. Every line she said and every move she was making was to express her inner feelings towards him. She was hoping this one time that her Mr.Know-it-all would be able to read her like one of his books.

 

   Nocturnal hummed in thought as she rubbed her thumb on his bottom lip before softly humming out, “Hmmm, they do don’t they~!”

 

   He squeezed his eyes shut as he squeaked out, “B-But with who…?”

 

   Nocturnal chuckled as her lips ghosted over his, almost touching as she muttered on her breath, “Maybe with someone you already know~? Like-”

 

   “Like Jyggalag!” Hermaeus Mora burst out, pulling himself back from Nocturnal with a face bursting with an idea as he slammed his hand on his other’s palm.

 

    _“Wait what…”_

 

   He quickly stood up, pulling himself away from the desperate, loving grip of Nocturnal saying, “We’re perfect! We both love the thrill of a good puzzle. We both like some peace and quiet… It’s just so much easier to talk to him, especially when you don’t need to talk. You don’t suppose… I could... I should go see him now…!”

 

    _“Is this what’s going to happen now!? Are you just gonna let him go like that?!”_

 

   He was laughing as he started getting lost in his thoughts of him and Jyggalag as he quickly started walking towards his desk before stopping himself, mumbling loudly to himself, “Wait…! I can’t just can’t go there and say that we should be in a relationship! Nocturnal! What should I do?”

 

    _“You were so close! Nocturnal…!”_

 

   Nocturnal just sat there on the ground as her arms started limp to her side, saying in an emotionless voice, “Pretend to be there for something else… then start to lead on that you want something more…”

 

   “That’s a brilliant idea! Wait! What would I pretend to be there for?” Hermaeus Mora asked her again.

 

    _“What are you doing?! Stop this! You almost had him! You….!”_

 

   Nocturnal didn’t answer to either of them. She didn’t move from that spot on the ground. Her arms started to shake slightly as she curled her fingers into a fist. Her head slowly looked down to hide her face with the tears billowing at the sides of her eyes. She noticed her shadow started to bubble and that wicked grin appeared flipped upside down. It opened its mouth as if to say something but with her purple glowing fist, Nocturnal quickly punched the ground where it was. Though she still didn’t want to show Hermaeus Mora this thing that she called her shadow, she’d have to agree with her shadow. Her heart felt like it snapped in two when he said Jyggalag and it continued to break when he started to list off on why they’re compatible. More compatible then she’d ever been and the more she thought about it she realized, and feared, that Jyggalag bit be harbouring something as well.

 

   Hermaeus Mora frowned nervously as she spoke quickly, “Nocturnal? What’s wrong? Can’t think of an answer ether…? Damn it!”

 

   “N-no… I just needed to-ah!” Nocturnal choked out, trying to calm herself as she stood up, continuing, “Why Jyggalag?! Out of all of us… well, the TWO you’re most close to out of the princes, that isn’t your sister, why him…? Yea you two have so much in common and capability is there but he-”

 

   Hermaeus Mora interrupted, “Yea, he is pretty emotionless and finds them a burden… and yes he doesn’t believe in individuality but that’s beside the point-oh… sorry for interrupting! Heh, I already knew what you were gonna say so I just.. You know~!”

 

   Nocturnal crossed her arms and held herself a little as if she was trying to hold herself together when she spoke, “But that would prevent you from actually doing any ‘research’ into Mara’s sphere? Emotions and individuality is an important factor for that... Why not-”

 

   “I-I can make it work! There isn’t another easy way, besides you showing me your shadow but you made it clear that the possibility isn’t happening so this is my only other option…!” Hermaeus Mora exclaimed with a stubborn pout.

 

    _“I see now… this is a lost cause. He doesn’t see what’s obviously in front of him, only what he thinks he wants and what’s to come. Just give him what that is, deary, then let us leave this horrible place… this shade of green looks awful against our shade of shadow!”_

 

   Nocturnal grew silent again as what he said sat in her mind before she sighed and said, “…pretend to be there for your sphere, Hermaeus Mora. Jyggalag has a library of formulas and whatnots, so go there with the ‘intent’ of that...”

 

   “For knowledge, hmmm... Well, there is formula books there that I am actually interested in, so I could get those while I’m there for him… oh! Maybe I could help him with some! I bet he can’t predict the future like I can! Ha! That would definitely interest him” Hermaeus Mora mumbled on to himself proudly, rubbing his chin with a cheeky grin.

 

   “Whatever… works…” Nocturnal mumbled out, feeling herself become heavier than normal.

 

   “Perfect! Thank you Nocturnal!” Hermaeus Mora cheered gleefully as he walked over to Nocturnal and hugged her.   
  


   Hermaeus Mora then walked over to his desk, brushing and straightening his cloak before stopping and looking back at Nocturnal saying, “Do you think you could… open a portal for me?”

 

   “Why can’t you? You’re perfectly capable of doing that by yourself.” Nocturnal asked, turning away as she felt those tears start to slowly roll down her cheek. That hug he gave her broke her.

 

   Hermaeus Mora responded, “Jyggalag’s realm has quite the defences. I can’t just stroll right in! Especially to his library! He keeps that place guarded and locked up tight! Only him and a selected few can enter… Buuut! What he can’t keep out of his library are shadows! And you are the master of those! Besides, if I just ask about the library openly to his face… he’d probably just laugh and dismiss me like I was nothing…”

 

   “And you want this guy over me…” Nocturnal mumbled shakily to herself before taking a deep breath and wiped her face quickly, continuing, “Fine. I’ll open a shadow portal for you…”

 

   Hermaeus Mora put his hands on his cheeks and smiled cutely as he excitingly exclaimed, “Oooh, thank you Nocturnal~!”

 

   His adorable pose made Nocturnal blush but also granted her even more piercing pain in her chest as she lifted her glowing fingers. With an upward swipe from her right hand, a shadow portal tore through the air with a fuzzy picture in the tear starting to clear when Nocturnal’s left hand slowly approached it. She tapped the fuzzy image and the tear suddenly grew wider with a clear image of Jyggalag’s library showing. Nocturnal held up her hand cautiously to exciting Hermaeus Mora and poked her head through the tear to look, noticing it was in the top corner of this library. It seemed quiet in the vast maze of a library with books neatly symmetric on the gigantic silver shelves and it was quite brightly lit with a pattern on the ceiling of hanging torches burning with an enchanting white flame. The walls were almost iridescent and crystal-like as the floor was just all these shiny clear tiles laid perfectly in a pattern. In the distance, there was a large door with Jyggalag’s symbol on it that was closed.

 

   Nocturnal kept looking around as she whispered, “Wow… Jyggalag really has eclectic tastes in decorating, but I wonder why this place is so unsettlingly empty and quiet… is it really saf-”

 

   Hermaeus Mora looked through the tear and leaned towards Nocturnal in a whisper, “It’s safe, don’t worry… I already foresaw nobody was here.”

 

   Nocturnal rolled her eyes before saying, “Alright then hop through…”

 

   “W-what? Oh! Uhh…” Hermaeus Mora stuttered.

 

   Nocturnal looked back at him, raising an eyebrow as she mouth grew into a frown, saying, “What’s wrong? You FORESAW no one is here, so hop through and do your thing…”

 

   “But I can’t foresee if this will work or not… like what if he rejects me or if he...” Hermaeus Mora gasped before grabbing his cheeks, looking worried before whispering, “Or if he says he’s interested in someone else…!”

 

   Nocturnal’s frown turned into a snarl as her tears returned as she yelled, “JUST GO!”

 

   She shoved Hermaeus Mora through the tear and pulled back her head from the tear. He fell straight to the ground with a thud before looking up with an unhappy pout as he rubbed the side of his face he landed on. Tears started to pour from her cheeks as she watched the events unfold before her, covering her mouth from the hiccups of her crying.

 

   Hermaeus Mora got up from the floor, brushing his robe off and straightening it as he looked at the library around him. The silver shelves towered over him, seeming even bigger than when he was looking down at them. He started to walk down the hall of books, gawking in awe at the number of books and knowledge in one place.

 

   He trailed his hand over the bindings of the books as he continued to walk as he said out loud to himself, “All these books are so neatly placed... even in order by topic and in alphabetical order on each shelf! Way more organized than my books… Well, not that I mind as I know where every book in my realm is~!”

 

   He stopped at section labelled “Future” and from the look of the shelf compared to the rest, it was frequented more than the others. Hermaeus Mora took a second to quickly peek at the titles, noticing one spot under a book where it was pulled out the most. He looked at its title before freezing and slowly pulling out the book. He cautiously opened the book and flipped through the pages, scanning the page's information.

 

   “P-predicting the Future… huh… so he already knows without my help...” Hermaeus Mora mumbled sadly to himself.

 

    _“Well well~! Seems that Jyggalag didn’t need Hermaeus Mora’s powers at all! Ha! Why does this little prince think that Jyggalag would be interested in him if his powers are useless to him~? Pffft! Now I-we shouldn’t feel bad about this decision, deary~!”_

 

   Nocturnal did though feel slightly bad for the prince but couldn’t also help thinking that she did warn him that Jyggalag might not be all that into Mara’s sphere. She continued to watch, ignoring the fact that next to her, her shadow was raising into that eyeless being form. Its head was facing the tear as if it was watching with her as its grin grew wider. It seemed to take a bit of pleasure from watching the bit of dismay from Hermaeus Mora’s face. She rolled her eyes but something caught her eye during the tear. The door to the library was open.

 

   Hermaeus Mora deeply sighed as closed the book he was had, looking down. He stayed like that for a bit as Nocturnal was frantically scanning through the maze of halls for whoever entered the library. She noticed three figures a few halls down from Hermaeus Mora’s, two small and the other huge. Nocturnal leaned forward, seeing they were all wearing some sort of armor while the big one had long protruding spikes. She thought that they must’ve been knights of order that were on guard and that have maybe sensed Hermaeus Mora's presence. She felt the urge to jump through the tear to Hermaeus Mora’s side or to at least warn him of the new threat but felt a hand on her shoulder that stopped her. It was her shadow.

 

    _“Let this happen, deary. Whatever comes his way is his problem as he wanted this~!”_

 

   Nocturnal bit her bottom lip as she watching, feeling her shadows power slowly creep it’s way into hers. She didn’t fight it this time as she didn’t want too. Feeling the rush of power throughout her body and thoughts racing to her head, she welcomed it as her tears still were falling. Her gripped tightly against each other as she raised her chin, staring down at the tear with now intense purple eyes glowing.

 

   Hermaeus Mora slowly put a hand on his hood and pulled down, groaning loudly, “Argh! Why…?! Why couldn’t he just ask me?! He doesn’t need this book or formula…!”

 

   The figures a few halls over all perked there heads up, hearing the groan. The smaller ones drew their swords as the bigger one pointed for them to go the other way and they obeyed without a nod or hesitation. The big one drew a large, shining sword with his left hand and started to head the quicker way to Hermaeus Mora’s hall. Nocturnal and her shadow looked at each other as they knew from the sword that the big one was no knight of order guard. It was Jyggalag himself.

 

   “Stupid book…” Hermaeus Mora mumbled angrily to himself as he went to put it back before he stopped midway.

 

   Hermaeus Mora slowly turned his head over to the end of the hall. His eyes grew wider as he realized the door to the library was opened. He kept still and quiet as he heard the clacking of metal armor on the tile floor. At the last bookshelf of the left side of Hermaeus Mora, an armored hand swiftly gripped the end of it as the long sword appeared slowly next before the rest of Jyggalag did. That armored heard slowly turned towards Hermaeus Mora as he stood right at the middle of the hall.

 

   “Hermaeus Mora!?” Jyggalag’s echoey voice rang out from under his helm.

 

   Hermaeus Mora gulp and nervously smiled as he stuttered, “J-Jyggalag… I-I didn’t expect well, foresee you coming-”

 

   “What are you DOING HERE?!” Jyggalag yelled suddenly as he gripped his sword tighter, marching down that hall.

 

   “I-I-I was just…” Hermaeus Mora struggled to say as he backed up a bit.

 

   “Is that one of MY BOOKS?!” Jyggalag shouted, closing in onto Hermaeus Mora as he his helm tilted up towards the corner where the tear is and continued to shout, “Are you here to STEAL THEM?! How DARE you…!”

 

   Hermaeus Mora quickly looked down at his hand before dropping it with a squeak, “I-I’m sorry! I was just…”

 

   Dropping the book only seemed to have made Jyggalag angrier as he quickened his march to Hermaeus Mora, raising his sword slightly and reaching out his right hand. His monsterlike presence froze Hermaeus Mora as Jyggalag was just a few steps away.

 

   Jyggalag grabbed Hermaeus Mora by the chest and throat, lifting him up as he screamed, “You DARED invade my library to steal MY books!? MY knowledge! MY formulas! You couldn’t have believed that I would allow such an ATROCIOUS act to go unpunished! I will-”

 

   “I-I’M NOT HERE TO STEAL THEM…!” Hermaeus Mora yelped out, holding onto Jyggalag’s hand to try and pry it off but felt his hood was falling off.

 

   Jyggalag was silent for a bit before demanding, “Then what are you here for if it’s not my books…!?”

 

   “I…” Hermaeus Mora started before his hood slid off, revealing his adorable complexion of a face adorned with teary eyes as he continued with a shaky mumbled, “I was here for you…”

 

   “M-Me…? Why would want…too… are you crying?” Jyggalag asked, seemingly at a lost for words as he stared at Hermaeus Mora.

 

   The shiny armored prince dropped the teary-eyed prince as even under that armor, Nocturnal could feel a glimpse of regret on his face. His intimidating presence shifting into a confused, regretful and concerned one. The armored prince seemed lost. Hermaeus Mora was shaking badly as he began to back up, whimpering and gave an expression of fear if Jyggalag approached any closer. Hermaeus Mora kept crying and staring at Jyggalag with those wide fear filled eyes, making Jyggalag start to panic a bit at the prince of knowledge sudden burst of emotions.

 

   “W-Wait! Don’t keep crying…!” Jyggalag said with a bit of panic, dropping his sword and holding up his hands to Hermaeus Mora.

 

   “I-I’m sorry… you are-were just so…” Hermaeus Mora stuttered as he hiccuped and wiped away his tears.

 

   Jyggalag was quiet for a bit as he kept up his hands, unsure on what to do next. He tried to reach for Hermaeus Mora, stumbling a bit forward, but the crying prince backed away from him. Jyggalag blinked then looked down at himself before taking a deep sigh. The armor started to shine brightly and morph underneath the light to a smaller figure. It was still taller than Hermaeus Mora but was way smaller than the armored giant. The light suddenly dispersed and there, in a flowing white with black striped silk robe, was Jyggalag without all that armor. His silver skin glittered and his long sleek white hair gently swished as a chunk of his hair was up in in a large prim bun, being held up only by a small black ribbon. He kept his eyes closed and sleeves together, hiding his hands as his robe and hair settled from the sudden change. His grey slitted eyes shot open, staring down at Hermaeus Mora with a glint of worry to them. Hermaeus Mora was starstruck by the change, forgetting he was even crying even though tears were still falling.

 

   “This better, isn’t? Hey, shhh... don’t keep crying...” Jyggalag reassured, confused on what to do so he just ended up patting the top of Hermaeus Mora’s head.

 

   “S-sorry…” Hermaeus Mora nervously chuckled as wiped away his remain tears before looking back up at Jyggalag, adding, “This is better by the way…”

 

   Jyggalag looked to the side as parted his sleeves, holding a black-gloved hand out to Hermaeus Mora. His fingers were spread wide to avoid hurting the prince with his claws, even if they were under black gloves. Hermaeus Mora looked at the hand and slowly met it with his own, grabbing it firmly before looking back up at Jyggalag with a smile. A slight pink blush rushed across Jyggalag’s cheeks as he quickly knelt down to pick up the book that was dropped and gestured to his companion to follow. Together they walked down that hall of books, chatting away together about what the future holds with their hands so tightly intertwined as if they were refusing to let go of the other. The tear started faded away when those two walked out of the library even closer together then what they were before.


	5. A Dark Result

 

   Nocturnal watched the tear fade away, her hand held up to it as she muttered under her breath, “Why…”

 

    _“Why what, deary?”_

 

   “Why does this hurt so much! I shouldn’t be this affected by his choice but I am! It hurts… it hurts BAD…! I hate this...” Nocturnal shouted to herself.

 

    _“Now now, no need to dwell on those feelings anymore! What’s happened is done and now we have to move on to something better~!”_

 

   “But what am I going to do now… It hurts to be here so I can’t stay and I can’t go back to my realm…! ” Nocturnal loudly spoke as she slowly collapsed to her knees, her tears now streaming down her face she curled her lip.

 

    _“Awww, look at you~! The Great Daedric Prince of the Shadows… on her knees, weeping and whimpering like a runt…!”_

 

   Her shadow quickly leaned down and put its pale, cold hands on her shoulders. It’s fingers slowly kneading into her shoulders as if to massage them. Nocturnal looked back at her shadow who leaned even closer to her face as if to whisper something.

 

    _“You can still go back to your realm, ya know~!”_

 

   “What do you mean…? HE’s still there!” Nocturnal snarled.

 

    _“Oh now don’t get snappy! There’s a simple solution to that problem~! He won’t bother you and leave if you don’t have what he seeks..!”_

 

   Nocturnal muttered, “My purity…”

 

    _“Yes~! That’s it~!”_

 

   The shadows devilish grin grew as it took a hand off her shoulder and reached it out to Nocturnal’s face. It slowly touched by her temple and it trailed down the side of her head till it cupped her cheek. The shadow slid it’s way in front of Nocturnal and moved the hand that was on her shadow to her other cheek, holding her face as it leaned it’s towards hers. The shadow’s smirked widened as it whispered in its echoey voice.

 

    _“Though you never gave it to your intended target, there is another way~! Why don’t you-”_

 

   Nocturnal whined slightly, “But I wanted hi-”

 

    _“STOP THIS!”_

 

   With a powerful force, the shadow shoved Nocturnal onto the floor and slid its way over her feet in an attempt to keep her there. It’s from was flipped upside down and it held up its clawed hands, poised to strike. A low growl rumbled from its throat as it leaned over Nocturnal.

 

    _“Stop this WHINING! It’s getting on my nerves…! You are a daedric prince for Anu’s sake, Nocturnal! Start acting like one! SO what if Hermaeus Mora is clearly BLIND to that fact that you wanted to be the one experimenting this ‘Love’ with him… get over it!”_

 

   Nocturnal was a little shocked at her shadows sudden anger but she knew it was right. She lowered her head to the right with a frown as she realized that she already admitted to much to herself that her shadow was right and she still didn’t believe this shadow of hers actually was looking after her. But she couldn’t help but feel like something awoke in her heart, a bitter coldness that started to form the previous experience. Nocturnal couldn’t tell if she should welcome or shun it. She just stayed quiet as the shadow places a finger under her chin and raises it up to its own face.

 

    _“Now chin up and suck in those feelings! You don’t need those ones for that… lesser being… and put them to someone who will treat you like the prince you deserve to be~! One that might be lucky enough if you blessed them with the right to take that precious virginity of yours~! Someone who’s just as powerful as you, right?”_

 

   “... you’re right. I shouldn't feel like this! I… I am the oldest daedric prince! I shouldn’t have been acting like that…” Nocturnal said as she looked down with a tone of uncomfortable anger.

 

   The shadow tapped her chin as if to pet it and moved her hand down as she waited for a response. Nocturnal just nodded and took a deep breath before feeling herself, almost seemingly on cue, calm down. The shadows upside down smile flipped right back up as it backed up a bit, grabbing Nocturnal’s arms and pulling her up onto her feet. The shadow was still over her feet but Nocturnal didn’t care as she stood there with her chest and chin held up high. The shadow snickered as it kept a grip on Nocturnal’s wrists.

 

   “I’m done feeling… like this!” Nocturnal sternly spoke.

 

    _“There we go, deary~! That’s it! There is the Nocturnal that needs to be present more…! Someone who emanates the aura of strength and self-confidence! Someone who isn’t gonna mope and whine over something or someone so trivial…! Someone who’s not gonna let anything drag them down!”_

 

   The shadow snickered as its hand’s loosened its grip on her wrists, lowering them down and backing off her feet. It let her arms slide out a bit of its grasp until her hands were in it’s, making the shadow quickly grasp them. It clutched them till they formed a fist then it lowered them to Nocturnal’s side before letting them go. Nocturnal felt the coldness somehow grow a bit in her heart, though it was still a bit small, she had a feeling this shadow of hers had something to do with this. Not like she could say anything now as something more pressing was still on the table.

 

   “Yea I’m fine and better than ever…” Nocturnal said unenthused as she rolled her eyes, continuing, “But now we have the matter of Molag Bal still back in my realm, probably rampaging around…”

 

    _“Ha! That insufferable fool? You can EASILY overpower him, deary! Your shadows are way stronger now that you're confident! Besides, that’s how it should be! Others should FEAR your power…! Not feel like they could easily dominate you…! That’s why they keep coming back, isn’t-”_

 

   “They're not coming back because of that…! They're coming, and they're going to keep on coming no matter how much I beat them, for my purity! I’m going to… I’m going to have to get rid of it! To stop anyone from taking it… maybe then I can see who is true to their word for me and who’s not…!” Nocturnal declared, clutching her fists tighter.

 

    _“And how are you gonna do that~?”_

 

   “I will… uh… I will…!” Nocturnal stuttered, trying to think of what to say as she continued, “I-I’ll take it myself… with my uh...”

 

   The shadow was silent as it stared at her before tilting its head and putting its hands on its hips. It gave her a silent look, well what Nocturnal thought was a look as her shadow didn’t have eyes. Nocturnal crossed her arms and silently trying to think of a response to how.

 

    _“Well… I could also provide another option~!”_

 

   Nocturnal looked up to her right as she said, “G-Go on… I’m listening.”

 

    _“Well~! Considering all that has happened and your… attempt at a response to how you will solve your problem... What if I take it~?”_

 

   Nocturnal blinked before looking right back at her shadow with a shock and confused expression as she repeated, “You want… my virginity…”

 

    _“Why yes~! Think about it! I am the only one who has been with you and knows all the struggles you’ve encountered or still have~! I know you the best, deary~! Besides, I am part of you so you still would be holding true to your… answer.”_

 

   Nocturnal was still shocked but it perked it’s head up and looked around. Its smile turned once again upside down and its face moved back to hers. It gargled something to her but Nocturnal was too shocked about what it said to her to notice.

 

    _“Sounds like Hermaeus Mora’s Seekers are approaching… Let’s go back home deary~! I’ll take us to somewhere more… Comfortable~!”_

 

   Nocturnal was snapped out of her shocked confusion and stiffened when her shadow grabbed her by the waist  “Wait…! I didn’t say ye-!”

 

   Her shadow fell forward, using its weight to push her down into a shadow portal just as the Seekers came. Nocturnal braced herself against it as she was forced through the shadow portal, having to cling onto him for support. Everything around her was pitch black with swirls of purple and the feeling as if she was bathed in slime, being that close to it. That feeling changed, however, when she felt her back plop into what felt like a pile of soft feathers for how cushiony it was. Nocturnal blinked and looked around in a slight daze from her transport, and realised she was in her own bedroom. It was dark with just barely enough candlelight to see your way around, just like how she liked it, but the only difference is the black mass she called a shadow pinning her to her bed by her wrists.

 

   “What are you doing?! I didn’t say yes so get… off of me…!” Nocturnal shouted as she curled her hands in a purplish glowing fist, yelling once more, “After all you said before, you’re just gonna DOMINATE me like that swine was in my room?!”

 

    _“Don’t EVER compare me to that disgusting piece of daedric trash again! I just brought you here to get away from the Seekers and... it’s more comfortable here~! Don’t you agree~?”_

 

   Nocturnal raised an eyebrow and snorted, “Tch! Well, this is my room… but why don’t you get off me now! I never said-”

 

    _“Awww, come on deary~! I am the only one who can do it~!  How else are you gonna take your purity by yourself~?”_

 

   She looked to the side at her nightstand, noting the vase with the lavender flower on it, keeping quiet as she didn’t want to admit that she couldn’t of come up with an answer. That was the wrong move apparently as it’s freezing lips pressed against her neck. Nocturnal shuddered and squirmed under its grip until it bit her. She felt her body freeze with the occasional shudder but she felt like she had no control of her body once more as it went numb. The bony hands of the shadow slide down Nocturnal’s arms slowly with its body pressing and forming to hers.

 

    _“As I thought~! No answer huh? That’s ok~! Well, for me it is~!”_

 

   Nocturnal couldn’t even move her head back to face her shadow. She wanted to fight back but she also felt that she didn’t want it to stop like she wasn’t in control of her emotions either. Nocturnal squeezed her eyes shut as she thought that the pep talk her shadow gave her prior was to get her to go with it.

 

   “S-Stop shadow…! D-Don’t you dare… ah…! Continue…!” Nocturnal managed to stutter out.

 

    _“Haha! Or you will do what? You have no authority now…!”_

 

   The shadow pulled back and licked its bite mark before kissing back against her neck, ignoring her as it flicked off her crow pin that held her shawl together. He peeled off the shawl then began tugging off her overcoat that was over her dress. Once those were off, those hands trailed up and down the curve of her body over her dress. Eventually, both of its hands trailed up and stopped over her breasts, tugging down on her dress and bra to reveal them to it. Nocturnal shuddered a bit more before moaning out a bit when the shadow kissed a certain spot on her neck. It lifted its head from her neck and licked its lips as an evil snicker cane out of those sneering lips. With that expression it was giving her, she knew she was being tugged around by this shadow and she couldn’t stop it now.

 

   “Ah…! D-Damn you…. S-Shadow… I never said yes…!” Nocturnal managed panted out, but she could feel something in her trying to shut her lips.

 

    _“Heh, but you never directly said no~! Just let it happen, deary~! Time to let go and just enjoy~!”_

 

   Nocturnal wanted to respond and say no but she felt her lips sealed shut. She knew not what happened. She was once again being possed by this shadow but this time, she can’t fight it back as every part of her felt numb. The shadow laughed a bit as it knew that she figured out what’s happening. It’s face went back to her neck and this time it started to nip at spots all over it. Nocturnal squeezed her eyes shut with another shut as one of its hands cupped around her breast and the other reaches down, pulling up the bottom of her dress. It’s nipping went up from her neck to ear, biting it as it pinched its fingers around her nipple. Nocturnal jolted and squeaked through her sealed lips. The shadow snickered and pulled back, opening its mouth with a creak as if to say something but it was interrupted from a rumble that shook her castle.

 

   “NOCTURNAAAAAL….!” Shouted the voice of an enraged Molag Bal.

 

    _“Hmmm, I was hoping to keep things going slow but seems I’m going to have to speed things up…”_

 

   Nocturnal opened an eye to look back at her shadow. It leaned down, pressing it’s purring face under her jaw and against her neck as it lifted her legs up. She felt its cold hands around her thighs as they pulled down her panties. It’s purring stuttered as the shadow chuckled under her neck.

 

    _“It is time for the main event deary~! Let’s have fun with this with the short time we have left~!”_

 

   The rumbling of the vase told her that the stalker of her castle was getting extremely close to her bedroom. There wasn’t much time left for Nocturnal to fight this. She had to think of something fast if she wanted to suppress her shadow before a certain somebody shows, but one thing she does know. She can’t save her purity from it, but strangely to Nocturnal, this didn’t matter anymore. In fact, she was waiting for this shadow to take it as she knew she couldn’t fight it any longer on keeping it. What she was most worried about what an angered Molag Bal barging in when it happens. Nocturnal still didn’t want anybody to see this shadow of hers and especially during something like this.

 

   The shadow tilted it’s head down, staring at something with its grin. This ‘something’ was already known to Nocturnal, but she didn’t want to think about it. She was under too much pressure and stress from the situation she was in. But in such a state, she felt her arms twitch in response to her distress, causing her to blink a bit in confusion as she was numb a moment ago. Looking down at her shadow, she saw it was distracted. Perhaps, she thought, that it wasn’t paying to much attention on its control over her. But the coldness in her heart stayed, even when it’s beating so fast from this all. Still, if this guess was true, then she knew maybe she did have a way she could prevent the disaster that could unfold. She couldn’t let the shadow know. The shadow’s tongue flopped out of its mouth as it suddenly gripped Nocturnal’s hips with its claws.

 

    _“Here we go~! The perfect shape~! Now..!”_

 

   With its voice, a piercing pain followed by something slimy and slick sliding into her snapped her out of her thoughts. It sent shivers up her spine, the numbness fading away as the pain grew and grew. She looked down at herself as she clutched her fists together, wanting to scream out but knowing if she did that she would blow her cover. She looked up at the shadows face, trying to hold back shaking and cringing in pain. Blood trickled down her shaking thighs and another wave of piercing pain rushed through her body. This was almost unbearable now to Nocturnal. She had to act now.

 

   “D-Did… Did you…” Nocturnal mutter through her pretend-shut lips.

 

    _“Ahhh, yes I did~! And this feeling...~! It’s… It’s wonderful~! Congratulations, my deary~! You are not a virgin anymore~!”_

 

   The shadow licked its lips as it started to thrust in her slowly, seemingly facing at her for a reaction. Nocturnal suddenly expression turned from one of fear to a smirk, causing her shadow’s own smirk to flip upside down as it tilted it’s head in confusion. Nocturnal fists glowed purple and she quickly reached up, grabbing her shadow by its face.

 

    _“W-What?!”_

 

   Nocturnal hissed, “This l-little show… is over…!”

 

   She quickly forced herself to her right, gripping hard onto her shadow’s face and forcing it to the bedroom floor with her. It growled and thrashed, but feeling it slip out her sent a shudder up her spine. She had to stay strong though. Her shadow has had too much free rein lately and it already cost her too much. Feeling her hand hit that floor gave her mind and body so much relief as both were now fully back to her control. She forced her shadow back into its place as a normal one. But it was not over as the rattle of the vase on her nightstand grew wilder until it fell off and shattered on the floor. There was still Molag Bal left.

 

    _“Why you little-!”_

 

   “Hush!” Nocturnal hissed as she tried to listen.

 

   The rumbling stopped for a bit but started up in a rapid movement. Molag Bal heard the shatter and knows now. She slowly stood up with her chin high, looking back at where the vase was with a fierce but stern expression. The shadow reached up its hand slowly to grab onto her ankle, but Nocturnal quickly snapped her glare down to it.

 

    _“Grrrr! But how are you going to fa-”_

 

   “I said… HUSH! I about had enough of you, shadow! You told me to be strong and confident…! And that’s what I am doing now! No one is going to ever talk down to me or take over me now…! So shut up and stay a shadow for now!” Nocturnal growled, stomping her shadow’s arm back down.

 

   Nocturnal sassily flicked her head up high as she reached down and at her ankles, she pulled up her panties to put them back on. She calmly adjusting her bra back on and pulling up her dress to cover it. Turning around, she grabbed her overcoat and put it on. As she adjusted it, she caught a glimpse of her shadow’s upside down smile at her.

 

   She quickly snatched her shawl, putting it on as she said annoyed, “Can you not take a hint down there…?”

 

    _“You can’t keep up this act! I know how you work…! You know what I said before was a sham so why are you… faking this new you?!”_

 

   “Faking? Ha!” Nocturnal snorted with a smirk as she walked over to where her crow pin was and picked it up, continuing, “This IS me now… I said before that I was done being a whiny little weakling, didn’t I? If you didn’t like it, you shouldn’t have brought it up… Itzal.”

 

    _“Itzal?”_

 

   Nocturnal pinned her shawl together, looking down at her shadow with a snicker, “Ah yes~! It’s about time I give you a name so I can stop calling you ‘my shadow’ and I thought...~! The Lord of Domination suggested a perfect one… why not use the swine’s idea of a name for you~! Fitting, don’t you think~?”

 

    _“Why you little insufferable-”_

 

   “Nocturnal…!”

 

   The door burst open with Molag Bal standing there, lashing his tail and growling. He seemed to be not so happy with all the running around her castle, chasing fake shadows of her. Nocturnal looked over at Molag Bal, unamused.

 

   “I’m done playing these games with you…! Now I will take what I want!” Molag Bal growled as he squeezed his large body through her door and marched to her.

 

   “Well look who’s here…” Nocturnal said unenthused as she adjusted her shawl, saying, “Well sorry to say to you, Molag Bal, you’re too late.”

 

   He stopped right in front of her and pushed his face up to hers snarling with an eyebrow raised, “What do you mean?!”

 

   “Someone else just took my virginity… so you’re too late.” Nocturnal said, placing a finger on his nose and pushing against it to get him away from being so close to her.

 

   Molag Bal eyes widened and he started to sniff, inhaling deeply through his nose. Nocturnal raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms and leaning back from the sniffing. After a bit, pulled back expressed shock but also anger.

 

   “What… What did you do…?! No one else was here but me, yet I don’t smell it on you anymore! How could you’ve lost it!?” Molag Bal exclaimed, trying to lean back in.

 

   “It’s none of your business, but… so you’d get out of my face!” Nocturnal said, shoving now against his face, continuing, “I took it myself!”

 

   Molag Bal looked even more confused and angered but before he could speak, shadow tendrils erupted from the ground. They entangled the prince they surrounded and lifted him up, gagging him as well in the process. He struggled against but to no avail. He looked down at Nocturnal who had her hands on hips as she glared at him with glowing purple eyes.

 

   “I don’t really want to hear any more of what you have to say cause… I too tire of these games and I’m done now playing the helpless lady the big, bad Molag Bal wants to dominate! So…!” Nocturnal started to say as she walked over to her balcony door, using her magic, she quickly broke the seal on it and opened it.

 

   With the snap of her finger, her shadow brought over Molag Bal, holding him over the edge as Nocturnal cleared her throat and snarled fiercely, “Either you get out by yourself and don’t come back uninvited or I will drop your ass on my statue! And let's just say… my statue is made from something very strong and they angle you’ll be falling… Oooo, let’s just say… that won’t be a pleasant feeling up there~! So what will it be… nod your head to leave or shake it for me to drop you…!”

 

   He looked at her with a bit of fear as he looked down before nodding to Nocturnal, causing her to snicker, “Good choice~! Ta ta~!”

 

   She swirled her finger and a portal opened to Coldharbour right above her statue. She then snapped and the shadows suddenly let go of Molag Bal. Nocturnal leaned against the edge of her balcony as she watched him fall.

 

   Molag Bal shouted in frustration as he fell, “Gahhhh! Damn you Nocturnal! I’ll just have to go for the last virgin lady prince… Vaermina I will not be so kind to-”

 

   Nocturnal raised an eyebrow to what he said, interested but was distracted by the sound of flapping wings. She looked up, seeing the familiar raven dressed in a bowtie and monocle flying to her. He landed on the balcony by her arm and gulped as he bowed, looking extremely nervous.

 

   “M-Mistress… I’m glad to see you’re alright!”

 

   Nocturnal took a deep breath and tapped her shoulder with a smile as she said, “And I’m glad to see you’re alright, Nox Eternis, my faithful advisor… Come, we have much to discuss and even plan…”

 

   Nox Eternis sighed in relief as he quickly flew up to her shoulder. Nocturnal felt her more positive emotions come out for once throughout this whole endeavor, even with the coldness in her heart still present. She chuckled as she waved her hand down, putting her shadow tendrils back as she walked inside. Indeed, she thought, they had much to discuss. She had lots to tell him about what happened and the personal wake up call she had. No other prince was going to get to her, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit worried for one. Vaermina. But what horror could the Lord of Domination to the Prince of Nightmares? Nocturnal wasn’t so sure, but she felt it would have to wait for another day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank you all for reading this story! It was a blast writing it! As of now, the only updates to this story will be grammar and spelling errors. This story is part of another trilogy though smaller than my previous one. The next one in the series is called Self-Inducing Nightmares. I already started it but I won't post a chapter until I feel like I've finished it fully and gave it the attention it deserves. Expect it soon though! And just to clarify that yes, there will be smutt! XD
> 
> ~Till next we meet!~


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